Bedding Inspired by the Homeless

We love it when our aesthetic passions line up with a good cause. The Home Duvet from Dutch By Design, a UK-based company specializing in contemporary home goods by Dutch designers, is a product that raises money for the homeless and manages to heighten awareness for the cause in a stylish way. We could see buyers loving the cause–benefiting the less fortunate–or being turned off by what they think are offensive designs.

The duvet cover and pillowcases are decorated with a photographic print of a cardboard box, reminding the user that some people don’t have a bed, let alone a home. The pattern has been so popular that Dutch By Design is introducing a second print that looks like pavement later this month.Thirty percent of the gross profits from the sale of both patterns will go to Centrepoint, a United Kingdom charity for homeless youth ages 16 to 25-years-old.

Most of the time philanthropic home goods are simply stamped with a logo, like the pink breast cancer ribbon, or the design of the item doesn’t address the cause for which the product raises funds. We applaud the attractive and meaning-filled design, and hope that other charities will partner up with clever design teams in the future.

However, as someone who has worked with a homeless charity in the past, I am not sure what the homeless would make of this design. It is, after all, a wee bit creepy to dress your bed up like a cardboard box, isn’t it?

Non-profits take note: The designer goods have clearly raised some money, since the original ‘Home’ pattern is currently back-ordered on Dutch By Desing’s site!

We’ve covered other examples of the non-profit sector and the design world crossing paths: posts about Merci Gap in New York and Housing Words online auctions are two fine examples.