Retail Facility by Industrial Facility

(Image credit: press)

Taking the truest meaning of ‘facility’ in hand, Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, the quietly brilliant designers that make up Industrial Facility, have launched a website that enables their designs to be bought directly from them.

Retail Facility is a simple enough concept – using the web as a means of selling designs directly - but one surprisingly few designers have cottoned onto. For Hecht and Colin the impetus was to facilitate the purchasing of their products that previously had limited availability, restricted only to certain countries.

See more of Industrial Facility's designs available to buy on Retail Facility

In line with Industrial Facility’s pared down, no nonsense design aesthetic Retail Facility is clean to the point of clinical and functions as beautifully as the products it pedals (trust us, we’ve tried it and them out). Exploiting the web’s potential to reach more people than the shop floor we applaud Industrial Facility’s lateral thinking.

Buying design from the web might not be a new concept, and we certainly don’t think the click of the mouse will totally replace the thrill of the till, but we do think Retail Facility could spark a new trend of designers seeking alternative routes, particularly in leaner times, of forging a more direct route to consumers.

Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.