Michelle was introduced to the Oru kayak while travelling in Scandinavia, and it was love at first sight.
Yugen was founded by Michelle Tommosgard and launched in Sydney in January this year.
#Origami kayak full#
Oru kayaks are sold around the world and now Australia has its own distributor, Yugen Adventure - the website has full specs of the range of Oru kayaks and accessories as well as videos of this ingenious product in action. It also makes the prototyping process for new models much faster. To this day the kayaks are designed and manufactured in the United States (in Southern California) which gives Anton and his team hands-on access to the production process, ensuring that every Oru Kayak meets high standards for safety, design, and performance. They were also able to gain valuable insight after reaching a deal with an investor from the ABC’s “Shark Tank” program in 2014. The first kayaks shipped in the northern Spring of 2013 to rave reviews. It was a great problem for a new company to have, but it also meant a steep learning curve-about everything from designing assembly facilities to setting up efficient operations to understanding international customs regulations. They were thrilled of course, but it meant they were faced with the daunting task of building and delivering five times as many kayaks as planned. Through a Kickstarter campaign they initially sought $80,000 in seed money to set up a manufacturing facility but raised nearly $450,000. The design was quite challenging and the first one sank, but he persevered and after about 25 iterations it was ready for market. There was a lot of interest from friends, so he decided to make a business out of his idea. He was also a keen paddler, but after moving to the San Francisco bay area in 2002 he faced the difficulty of getting to the outdoors from a large congested city, let alone storing a large kayak in his apartment.Īfter reading a 2007 article in The New Yorker magazine about a physicist with an interest in origami, Anton wondered if a kayak could fold up like a piece of paper? He started making miniature ones out of folded paper, then cardboard and eventually a full-sized version from corrugated plastic. The inventor and founder of Oru Kayak, Anton Willis, had a fascination with origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into three dimensional shapes and figures. No need for roof racks as with hard shell kayaks, and it will fit under your bed, in a closet/wardrobe or the boot of your car. The Oru kayak is an origami inspired vessel that folds from a flat pack (with carry strap), into a stylish, sturdy, lightweight and durable kayak in a matter of minutes, and one that you can take virtually anywhere.
Or, more accurately, the kayak is the box! Oru claims that with proper care, the kayak can withstand rock action, bumping action, and folding up tens of thousands of times…for anyone who paddles in it that often.Remember the ship in a bottle from your childhood? Now, thanks to a genius from San Francisco, you can have a kayak in a box. Meaning the material is puncture and abrasion resistant. That material is a “5mm double-layered, custom-extruded polypropylene with a 10-year UV treatment,” according to their website. And even though this is their cheapest model, they still use the same materials for their other kayaks.Īnd partly due to the success of their Kickstarter, Oru Kayak announced they were able to start shipping the Lake to the public on July 15 - three months ahead of its original October launch date. The new Lake weighs 17 lbs and you don’t need tools to assemble and disassemble the kayak. This newest kayak continues the company’s tradition of using origami principles to make their kayaks transportable when not in use. Over th years they’ve built two factories and sold 50,000 kayaks, according to their Kickstarter. Kickstarter Successĭuring the spring, the company raised $2.25 million from 2,614 backers on Kickstarter to help create their most affordable model. In 2019, the company released its first-ever sub-$1,000 folding kayak offering and they’ve now taken it a step further with a new model called the Lake being sold for $599. Since its creation in 2012, Oru continues to push and refine its mission of providing people with an affordable, light-weight kayak that folds into a transportable package when not in use. Origami and kayaking normally aren’t used in the same sentence but Oru Kayaks blends the two to make translucent, skin-like recreational kayaks and now they’re making them even cheaper.
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