Can mydeco Democratize Design?

With names like Conran and Starck on board, the London Web site could change the world for interior decorators — and make a killing

by Jennifer L. Schenker

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Sylvia Ast, a single American woman in her 40s, always thought she had a "good eye" for design. But she was prevented from testing her talent by limited finances, her part-time job at an Atlanta hair salon, and the need to care for her disabled father.

But that was then. While playing cards on the Internet recently, Ast stumbled onto the Web site of mydeco, a new London company that showcases furniture from major retailers and helps users design their own interiors. In little over a month, Ast has created more than 60 virtual rooms using 3D models of products such as sofas, lamps, wallpaper, and vases. Although the mydeco site is still in beta testing, Ast's rooms have been viewed 6,500 times, helping her achieve the status of a "design oracle" on the site and reap encouraging compliments from viewers around the world. "Maybe I should see if I could get a job somewhere as a designer," she says.

Ast's experience is an example of how mydeco, which is expected to launch commercially this autumn, is hoping to "democratize design," giving budding interior designers tools to experiment with different arrangements of furniture, lighting, wall colors, and floor coverings—all on the screens of their PCs. And as it has for Sylvia Ast, mydeco also gives its customers the chance to show off their work and gain renown.

Turning the Industry on its Head

Of course the site also provides makers of furniture, fabrics, lighting fixtures, and decorative objects a powerful new sales channel. By aggregating 1.5 million products from more than 650 sellers, the site offers buyers a vastly larger selection than local design showrooms or even big-box superstores. Artists and sole proprietors also can get into the game, displaying one-off products in mydeco's design boutique.

"We want to be a disruptive force that will turn the whole design industry on its head," says Brent Hoberman, who co-founded mydeco along with Martha Lane Fox. The same duo were behind Lastminute.com, a popular European travel site that went public in 2000 and was bought five years later by Travelocity for $1.1 billion.

To help users get started, mydeco includes a catalog of ready-made home decor styles from well-known designers. Customers set their budgets with a sliding bar that ranges from cheap to pricey. Then they drop 3D versions of furniture and decorative objects into their virtual rooms or even upload photos of real rooms in order to test out what looks good. Some 35,000 objects on the site are currently rendered in 3D, with more on the way.

Earning a Commission

Mydeco's business model is based on advertising, sponsorship, and a 12.5% sales commission on products its customers buy through the site. Another source of revenue could come from selling mydeco's 3D tools to other retailers for use on their own Web sites. Some customers will use mydeco to test designs for real rooms in their homes. But others, like Ast, are creating completely imaginary designs—and stand to gain a 4% sales commission if other customers buy the products they've featured in their virtual rooms.

The idea for mydeco came to Hoberman, now 39, after the sale of Lastminute.com. He splurged on a four-story house in central London. But even though his wife is an interior designer, Hoberman says it was hard to find the right furniture and to visualize how it would look. He longed for a way to compare prices and mix, match, and move 3D renderings of real products in a virtual version of his house.