Customer Design Contest??

[Chago]

It's my first post here, but I've been collecting and using Spydercos for the last 20 years. Besides their own unquestionable designing ingenuity, I think the idea of collaborating with reputable knife makers to develop new models has been nothing less than brilliant. It allowed custom designs to be offered to the public in a factory knife. This trend remains strong, and the new factory offerings from Spyderco not only mirror custom designs in appearance, but have also improved significantly in breaching the quality gap.

I've also designed some of my own throughout the years, a few of which have been commissioned to some great makers such as Joel Chamblin, Warren Thomas, Pat Crawford, Johnny Stout, and David Broadwell. It takes a considerable effort to develop a good knife design, but the satisfaction of bringing it to life by a top notch maker raises the hobby to a whole new level, IMO.

It occurs to me that there should be a number of loyal collectors/users like me out there that can also design a knife. So, in light of Spyderco's visionary nature as a company, why not tap into this enthusiastic resource and develop a "Customer Design Contest". Without going into detail, sketches could be received during a limited period of time, and the winning design, to be selected by Spyderco, could be developed into a limited production model. From the designer standpoint, it would be a contest just for fun and potential bragging rights (i.e. no money for the winner).

I'm throwing out this crazy idea here and on other forums (...on the assumption that nothing like this has already been done before) to see if it draws some interest. In the meantime, here's a pic of one of my own designs incorporating the Spyderco hole in the blade made by David Broadwell back in 2006. Feel free to comment, bash, and/or post pics of your own designed pride and joy!

[Officer Gigglez]

I think its a cool idea, but I want to say that they have done it before. But don't quote me because I don't know for sure. Anyway, that blade looks pretty good to me.

[jabba359]

While Spyderco hasn't run a contest, they have taken some forum member submitted designs before and turned them into prototypes, with some making it into production.

[gbelleh]

If I was going to put all the effort into designing a truly viable knife, I'd rather just go through the established channels and have a chance at actually receiving royalties. But it would be interesting to see all the designs, if they were publicly submitted.

[The Deacon]

Interesting idea, but I suspect there might be legal issues involved.

[Blerv]

I like the idea too but also think design ideas are best exchanged in private electronic paper trails. That and with the number of designs in the pipeline in the event one is released that has similar lines there is danger of someone believing "Spyderco stole my idea".

[Holland]

Very cool idea! I look forward in seeing where this goes

[sal]

Hi Chago,

Welcome to our forum and thanx for the decades of support.

As Deacon mentioned, it's an interesting idea, but there are many potential problems. That's why we do it the way we're doing it. A public showing of ideas eliminates any possible protection and provides the copy cats with something to steal.

I'm sure that you do have interesting designs, from what I've seen, and you've certainly selected some exceptional makers.

While I think that a public contest would be fun, I think it wouldn't serve as well as private discussion. Especially if a production version would be the goal.

We do get many submissions from knapkin sketches fo custom pieces. They all go to Peter Jhones, Our R&D / legal in-house guy. (peterj@spyderco.com" target="_blank). Each design is studied and discussed with our R&D team. Then thosse selected for further study would have a proto made (by us or the designer) and we show it at shows for the next year (about 6 showings) to get feedback from customers, both dealers and ELU's. Then we choose and go from there. The process often takes years so time is saved if we can show a proto that we don't have to engineer and build. Simple drawings have limitations because they will require actual designing, engineering and prototyping which requires time from Eric, Peter, Roque and me....and we are pretty busy.

sal

[Chago]

Thank you all for the comments and insight. I do understand the potential issues with a public contest, and although there are legal ways to go around most of them, it certainly complicates the process. Sal, thanks for taking the time to briefly explain Spyderco's SOP on design development. I'll take my curiosity one step further and send Peter an email to inquire a bit more about it.