Earlier this week (9 September), five brands – Freya Niamh Design, Fiona Yage Guo, One & Eight, POTR and Rumble Cards – were given the opportunity to showcase their innovative products to a panel of industry judges – gift buyers Jason Billings-Cray of John Lewis and Marianne Carter of Morleys Stores Group; Sara Allbright, director of Retail100, and Matt Hopkins, the founder of IND!E, which helps challenger brands to get a foothold into the major stores.
The winner was Andy Flynn, founder and designer at POTR, for his eco-friendly self-watering flat pack origami plant pots, which are made from 100% recycled polypropylene and 100% recycled cotton card.His prize is a one week pop-up with one of IND!E’s major retailers.
In his presentation, he told the judges: “We reinvented a product which hasn’t changed in over 5000 years by following our design principle ‘usability follows sustsainability’. Each product feature has a tangible user benefit driven by an underlying method of lowering our carbon footprint.”
Explained Andy: “The flat pack origami design cuts the carbon footprint up to 100 times during transit and ensures a customer never miss a delivery; there’s a reduction of up to 95% less material used compared to a traditional plant pot, as it is made from waste plastic destined for landfill. Plus, the self-watering system reduces the risk of killing plants and wasting the associated carbon footprint.
It’s been designed for longevity – it bounces while others break – so energy is conserved. Additionally, the plant pots can be recycled again at the end of life, closing the loop.”
Clarion’s senior marketing executive, Francesca Sequeira, commented: “The five brand owners who pitched to our panel of expert judges did brilliantly. It was a tough decision choosing the winner, but congratulations to POTR.”
It was a double success at the show for POTR which also won Top Drawer’sSpotlight Awards’ Best Newcomer category.
Earlier in the year, POTR was the winner of the Sustainable Product of the Year Award at the Chelsea Flower Show, with Andy receiving his award from Dragons’ Den investor Deborah Meaden.
Top: POTR’s Andy Flynn was the proud winner of Top Drawer’s Product Pitch competition, which took place at Olympia on Monday (9 September).
