This is a wondrous time for creative peeps. We can design and have printed our original fabric Retro Pink fabric. We can snap an iPhone photo of neighbor Marge’s delphiniums and buy perfectly-matched paint for the Master bath. Computer tools like this let us visualize our redesigned rooms before we shell out the bucks for a single appliance.

And we can design our original furniture and goods for the home, and quickly and easily have them manufactured and marketed for us.

“Excuse me?” “What?” you ask. So that rock I’ve been under had room for you too.

I just learned about Ponoko, where you can have your original designs manufactured into housewares, furniture and other products. Start with design software if you have it, or with your simple pencil sketch. Ponoko will price it, market the finished product, then manufacture it on-demand-to-order for your customers.

Brilliant! You own the copyright, you make your money, and there’s a slew of details and logistics you don’t have to bother yourself with. Instead, you spend your time designing.

Ponoko was founded a couple years ago in New Zealand, and now has manufacturing facilities in both Wellington and in San Francisco.

A caveat. Ponoko manufactures laser-cut goods from flat stock materials, currently:

• Acrylic
• MDF
• Bamboo
• Hardboard
• Delrin
• Felt
• Corrugated Card

What can you design with these parameters? You’d be surprised. Here are some of my faves:

1. Del Jackson Design’s “Tumbleweed” Lamp (top and above)
2. Wood Marvel’s Serving Table
3. JustDesign’s “Just Coffee” coasters (No reason.)
4. keebOs’s Spiral Coaster set
5. and 6. Alienology’s “Bloom” Lamp
7. Sherman Warren’s “Franklin” Art Deco Acrylic Lamp
8. Studio Wun’s “Hands” Corner Shelf
9. Sherman Warren’s Middle C Lamp

So no excuses, Design Junkies. Go forth and create!

What do you want to make?