New products and a zero-emission journey
Life is change, we know, and 2020 hit us hard, with a lot of it!
Coronavirus forced us at home and everyone had to pause, think, adapt. At Hoioh Design we had to do that too. With our new, eco-friendly and certified plywood sheets stuck in the factory due to the lockdown, and no access to our workshop, we turned to what we could get our (well-washed) hands on: the sketch pad.
So we started designing new products, thinking of new collections to bring you, and now, with the lockdown (kind of) behind us, we finally had the chance to get our first prototypes built!
New products
It's hard to explain the feeling of seeing your products in flesh after months of thinking, sketching, refining, 3D and 2D drawing... and then they are suddenly there. It sounds cheesy but it's kind of emotional.
New products or even a collection of products can hardly come out right the first time; you review them, assess their stability, usage, design and then you improve them, so don't get too hang up on them, when they will be on sale in Autumn this year they may look a bit different!
A naked chair
We began our adventure with a stool (a fairly complicated one to start with!) so we had to design a chair next. Chairs are such a common object that you may think they are a simple object but designing a good chair is no simple feat at all.
You have ergonomics to consider, vertical and lateral forces, and to make it harder, we decided to design one that you could assemble and disassemble without screws. And there it came our naked chair.
Naked like a naked bike, a chair that makes joints, cuts, holes and hooks its defining features, rather than something to hide.
And we are pleased to say we got the ergonomics right! The chair feels very comfortable with its angled seat, curved beams and reclined backrest.
Wall hanging furniture
Something else we wanted to experiment with was a series of objects that you can hang on your walls; single and multiple shelves, hangers... all using a similar system so that they can be complementary to each other and allow some playful combinations. So we designed ON, our new upcoming collection.
Easy to assemble and hang on your walls; simple, playful and minimal. (The picture shows three unrelated components, if you are wondering. We can't unveil it all, can we?!)
Small objects, zero-waste
When you work with plywood sheets you realise that certain objects - e.g. the side of a chair - have a shape that may create dead spaces where precious material may go to waste. So we came up with a collection of small objects that can easily fit into those dead spaces.
We called it the ZERO collection. ZERO because of our commitment to reducing waste to a minimum.
And here they are the Daisy coasters set and the Whale trivet!
A zero-emission journey
As our workshop is in Girona, we had to drive a little to collect our prototypes and given our commitment to being as eco-friendly as possible, this always made us feel a bit awkward. Thankfully, Som Mobilitat came to the rescue! And this time round, we rented a lovely Renault ZOE. Yes, 100% electric!
Whilst electric cars are not the all-round solution to our environmental problems, electric car sharing in the city makes total sense. When you pick it up, it's (most likely) fully charged (you can check its charge before booking and picking it up anyway) and you can easily drive it for 250 km with one charge, more than enough for a day in the city or a short trip outside.
It drives easily, being automatic, and it comes with a Telepass included so you can just drive through tolls without delays on the motorway. We just loved it and we will certainly use it again!
What next?
We will need the summer to refine our products and launch our new collections but stay tuned! Sign up to our newsletter to be notified as soon as we launch our new products.
