designing the brixton planters

Here at veradek outdoor, we’re a design-led company. With the creation of every product, we seek to create high quality, all-weather products that will transform your outdoor living space. Keeping this promise as the foundation of our creation process introduces new and exciting challenges to tackle, especially for our Product Design team. We spent some time with Robbie and Domenic to pick their brains on the unique hurdles they overcame in designing the new Brixton Series line of outdoor planters.

What is the inspiration behind the Brixton Series?

In striving to create elegant and modern products, we found inspiration to create a new planter series inspired by design cues from Victorian architecture. We decided to explore a modern take on a classic style.

Our inspiration

Victorian architectural styling: steep, gabled roofs, ornamental details, quirky charm, and refined trim.

What was the challenge in creating the Brixton line?

The Brixton Series is made from high-grade polypropylene. During the manufacturing process, we had to work through several design challenges to make production more viable—both physically and cost-effectively.

Our solution was to break the design into three separate components-an insert, the main body, and a base. This technical approached reduced the amount of soil needed and saved on packing space, while maintaining style and durability.

Throughout the process of designing the Brixton Series, we burned through countless cups of coffee and filled pages of our sketchbooks, often staying up late trying to figure out how to create the best-looking, best-functioning product possible while still keeping costs affordable for customers.

Despite reaching points where we were tempted to scrap the project altogether, we pushed through—and we’re really happy with the results! We ultimately hope that the fruits of our labour lead to greater enjoyment and satisfaction for our customers.

What inspired the name “Brixton”?

During our late-night brainstorming sessions, we often had music playing to keep the creative ideas flowing. It just so happened that David Bowie was our go-to—and since he was from Brixton, the name felt perfect for a design line inspired by the area. We scribbled “Brixton Series” in our notebooks and never looked back—it just felt right.

What are some of your favourite details about the Brixton Series?

The best part of designing the Brixton Series was seeing how the insert bucket and riser seamlessly attached to the main body of the planters. Although we drew heavy inspiration from the Victorian theme of form over function, we knew we needed to incorporate the accessibility and functionality Veradek is known for: easy, simple setup; all-season durability; and lightweight portability.

Which brixton planter is the design team’s favourite and why?

The Brixton Cube is my (our?) favourite in the series because of the design challenge it presented—the intimidating task of molding a perfect cube. It pushed us to think more innovatively about designing for manufacturability (DFM) to create an elegant, refined solution.