Quirky Hires President of Frog Design to Lead Research, Design and Production

Social design site Quirky announced Tuesday it has hired Frog Design president Doreen Lorenzo to lead research, design and product development. At Frog, Lorenzo oversaw global strategy and operations, helping to transform the design store into a global innovation company.

“I know the way products are developed has to change, and the old way of producing them has become irrelevant,” said Lorenzo. Fast business. “Quirky has developed a process for getting information from consumers and knowing how to make the right kind of product that the world wants. I came to Quirky to work closely with [founder and CEO] Ben Kaufman, help us grow business and build the best consumer products company in the world. “

Calling itself the machine of invention, Quirky relies on its community of 528,000 people to select, develop and manufacture products that appear on store shelves, such as Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and OfficeMax. It’s an open approach to innovation: Quirky’s product team live streams weekly meetings from New York City that decide which products are chosen. Those who submit ideas that are produced receive a percentage of the revenue, typically around 35%, while others who contribute by voting or suggesting improvements earn a smaller share.

In April, Quirky and GE teamed up to leverage the site’s community to create co-branded smart home products. In the process, GE opened thousands of patents to help develop new consumer products.