Birdhouse Studios’ Nesl won the William McShane Fund Kickstarter project competition, taking home $25,000 and the opportunity to have the Nesl sold in Brookstone stores across the country. Nesl, which is a flexible rubber nine-fingered desk organizer with suction cups to hold it where ever you stick it, beat out two other projects in the finals.

“It’s been very exciting,” says Josh Dryden, who created the Nesl with partners and fellow recent Cleveland Institute of Art graduates Sam Li and Pete Whitworth. “The biggest part is being in nationwide stores at Brookstone.”

The contest was sponsored by Brookstone and Buckyballs. Voters could vote once a day on the contest site.

Birdhouse Studios recently raised $30,000 in pledges through a Kickstarter campaign before going on to win the McShane contest. The team met with their manufacturer last week and presented updated CAD files for the Nesl. “We want to start manufacturing as soon as possible,” says Dryden.

While the Nesl’s popularity in the voting varied over the voting period -- at one time it was in third place on the last day -- Dryden credits everyone at CIA with helping to secure the win. “We talked to everyone we could at CIA,” he says.

The team heads to New York this week to meet with Brookstone.

Source: Josh Dryden
Writer: Karin Connelly