Like most designers, I’m constantly seeing little improvements that can be made to every day objects, along with bits and pieces of inspiration as well. There is rarely that cliche eureka moment with a new idea popping out fully-formed. For me, solutions to problems and inspirations tend to simmer together like a ‘stew’ for weeks, months – sometimes years before emerging as something recognizable. The path of Ollie from observed problem to crowd funded solution is following one of those tracks …and works out to be a sort of formula:
Skinny jeans + slim wallets + thin phones – the bulk of a typical pocket tool x ‘durability’ = Ollie (more or less)
We thought that a multi-function tool would simply be more valuable if it could just be there when you need it most… a real challenge for a THICK tool when everyone is going for THIN. If it’s small, but still too bulky/thick/heavy for your lifestyle – it will be left at home – also bad. Ollie solves this by being tough, thin, credit card sized and built to last…
Durability means more to us then simply ‘not breaking’, it means living a long, useful life and STILL be something you might want to pass along to a son or daughter …dings, dings, scrapes and all. That meant exploring premium materials and permanent laser etched graphics – super durable, but not the lowest-cost place to start. We can live with that!
Below is a bit of inspiration that is part of the Ollie formula – it’s a brass protractor I found at the bottom of a box of stuff from my dad, probably from the 20’s… likely given to him by my grand father. It’s followed me around for decades, not sure why – until now. Tough, thin, beautiful graphics, still does the job of finding an angle, will be handed down to Calvin someday!
Thanks for supporting Ollie – more to come!
Dave & Calvin
