WELCOME!
We're Matthew, Brigitt and Amy - the passionate, creative minds behind MET Designs.
MET is a social enterprise founded on a novel concept: to create beautiful, quality products inspired by reading and ideas, and to use our profits to transform lives through education.
In late-2015, we launched our first collection of designs - T-shirts inspired by timeless literary classics - through a successful crowdfunding campaign. Our generous supporters helped us raise over $13,000 to transform our novel concept into a social enterprise!
From left: Jack Lang, Matthew Taylor, Amy Gilmour (Co-founders of MET Designs)
During that campaign, we shared our vision of creating inspirational tools to keep you creative. This campaign on StartSomeGood marks the next chapter of our journey - to make that vision a reality.
To do so, we have re-imagined what's possible with a notebook and collaborated with local social enterprise Words With Heart. We've spent the past year designing and testing our premium, sustainable notebooks to create something innovative and truly special... something so much more than a notebook!
OUR STORY
MET stands for "Metamorphosis", a single word that goes to the heart of who we are as a business and why we exist. We seek transformative change in the way we do business, from the products we create to the positive impact we achieve in the community.
Re-imagining business
MET is a design collective that creates beautiful, quality products inspired by reading and ideas.
We collaborate with emerging artists that embody a purposeful and creative approach to materials and making. Each design is an expression of our core values: beauty, play and growth.
In other words, we take inspiration from books, quotes and ideas and use art and design to transform them into products that tell a story. Our current range of products includes T-shirts, tote bags, jewellery, art prints and stationery.
Transforming lives
As a not-for-profit social enterprise, our profits support literacy programs that empower kids to reach their full potential and write their own story.
Every purchase makes a difference through our partnership with the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation.
Our mission is to change the narrative on a disadvantaged today to create a prosperous tomorrow.
After our first year of trading, we made our first contribution to the ALNF's Early Language & Literacy Program. This innovative program operates in remote Indigenous communities to equip educators, parents and community members with the knowledge and tools required to work with their own children to develop foundational language and literacy skills. These skills are essential for success in education and in life
As our business grows, our profits will provide the ALNF with an independent, sustainable and growing source of funding to do what they do best.
RUN WILDE COLLECTION
Inspired by Oscar Wilde's quote, "A flower blossoms for its own joy", our Run Wilde collection of premium, sustainable notebooks is better for people and planet than any notebook we've found on the market today. More than a tool to keep you creative, every notebook delivers social and sustainable outcomes throughout our supply chain.
That's a big claim, but we are an open book about why our Run Wilde notebooks challenge the market status quo. They're a work of art, an environmentalist, an educator, a change-maker, and they're local. We've outlined these five features on the inside back cover.
The Run Wilde collection comprises three notebooks, featuring evocative cover designs that range from the overtly floral to the mysteriously abstract.
To produce these designs, we collaborated with emerging Australian artist, Anna Thomas, whose creative process is as unique as Oscar Wilde's wit and charm. She freezes floral bouquets with liquid nitrogen, smashes them, and photographs the botanical explosion. And, yes, they're real photographs!
Run Wilde "Close Up" design
Run Wilde "Emergent" design
Run Wilde "Abstract" design
These explosive designs wrap around both covers, featuring our MET logo on the back cover. With a slim, A5 softcover design, each notebook is a piece of fine art that you can conveniently carry everywhere your creativity takes you.
When you open each notebook, you'll discover a bookplate or "ex libris" section to include your personal details. Styled as a 19th-century gilded frame - the kind in which you would have found The Picture of Dorian Gray - this page serves as a reminder that the contents of your notebook is a unique self-portrait.
So wherever, however, and for whatever purpose you put pen to paper in a premium notebook, our Run Wilde collection has you covered. After extensive testing with stationery and design lovers, we settled on the following key features:
- A5 size (148 x 210mm);
- full-colour external and internal covers (with water-resistant biodegradable glazing);
- 54 semi-transparent lined pages;
- premium 120gsm, 100% post-consumer recycled paper; and
- square saddle binding.
In this campaign, the notebooks will be available in packs of two or more. You can also combine your notebooks with a range of rewards to suit your tastes and budget - from tote bags through to limited edition artworks. See the Rewards section below to help you decide!
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
To offer our notebooks at an affordable price, and effectively compete with major brands, we need to produce our Run Wilde collection in bulk. That's why we need your help to raise a minimum of $8,000 to get these products into creative hands all over the world.
Whether you are an individual, or a representative of a retail stockist or other organisation, there are many ways you can support this campaign:
- Individuals - meet your personal stationery needs or pick up a perfect gift for the stationery, design and/or book lovers in your life!
- Retail stockists - place a bulk order of our notebooks for your store! Contact us at [email protected] to discuss wholesale pricing and how we can help communicate our story and the unique features of our notebooks to your customers.
- Other organisations - place a bulk order of our notebooks to use at upcoming workshops, events and conferences. They are a powerful tool to engage your staff, clients and stakeholders on important issues, such as social innovation and entrepreneurship, social procurement, sustainability, and creative collaboration. Contact us at [email protected] to discuss pricing and explore opportunities to help you achieve your social and environmental objectives. Alternatively, if you've been searching for a modern, impactful artwork for your office, look no further than our large Run Wilde limited edition prints.
And, if you think we've created something newsworthy, please share our story with family, friends and colleagues via social media, spoken word, snail mail, or any other form of communication that is authentic for you.
REWARDS!
The information and product shots below will help you decide which reward to select on the right-hand side of this page. If more than one reward takes your fancy, you can also select combinations of rewards.
Note: Where there are design options to choose from - i.e. for notebooks, tote bags and all art prints - you do not need to make the hard choices when you make your pledge! At the end of the campaign, when transactions have been processed, we will be in touch to confirm your preferences.
Run Wilde notebooks
However many notebooks you'd like to purchase through the campaign, you can choose your favourite combination of cover designs.
There are three options to choose from. From left: "Emergent", "Abstract" and "Close-up" designs.
Bookmarks
We launched this set of five premium bookmarks during out 2015 crowdfunding campaign. Inspired by famous opening lines from literary classics, each bookmark design prompts you to curiously explore the world of literature, tell your own story and nurture your inner creative! Turn it around to find a reminder of what makes a story a timeless classic.
Tote bags
Made of long-lasting, 100% heavy cotton-canvas, our tote bags will remain a staple in your wardrobe for years to come.
There are two options to choose from. From left: "Austen" ("It's a truth universally acknowledged, that...") and "Joyce" ("Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a …").
A3 Run Wilde art prints
Our A3, archival quality Run Wilde art prints are produced with archival pigment ink on 300gsm 100% cotton rag paper. They are open edition (i.e. not limited edition) and available unframed.
There are three options to choose from. In order of appearance: "Close-up", "Emergent", "Side-burst" designs.
A3 Equality art prints
Our A3 Equality art prints are printed on textured 330gsm linen card. The Equality Collection was produced in collaboration with emerging artist and fashion designer, Orion Scott (founder of Orion Kendal). The artworks are inspired by Shakespeare's commentary on the human condition, and Betty Friedan's and Simone de Beauvoir's feminist classics.
There are two options to choose from: in order of appearance, "Under the Skin" and "Unconventional".
Limited edition, large-format Run Wilde artwork
Our large-format, archival quality Run Wilde art prints are limited edition (15 prints per artwork) and supplied with a certificate of authenticity from our collaborating artist, Anna Thomas. Each print is produced with archival pigment ink on 300gsm 100% cotton rag paper.
We recommend using our preferred framer for the best outcome in terms of quality and protection. The prints are dry-mounted to foam board to prevent rippling and framed behind museum grade acrylic to provide shatter-resistance and protect them from UV damage. The artwork is framed with sustainably-sourced Australian hardwood in a black finish. You can also choose to purchase the prints unframed, and organise an alternative framer at your convenience.
There are four options to choose from. In order of appearance: "Close-up" (70x100cm print, with 10cm border), "Emergent" (70x100cm print, with 10cm border), "Side-burst" (70x100cm print, with 10cm border) and "Triptych" (series of three 60x60cm prints, no border).
Note: these limited edition Run Wilde artworks are also available in larger custom sizes. Contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in custom sizing to suit your space and budget.
