Industrial Design + Product Development
HP came to FUSE with a prototype of what they were calling a “Video Boombox”. This was a digital projector with a built in DVD player and speakers all in one compact device. HP was looking for physical concepts based on different markets and usage scenarios. FUSE provided 2D concepts, renderings and physical models.
Cranium came to FUSE to get help wit this new game that eventually would be called Conga. Initially the project was very loosely defined and Cranuium let us explore several themes . Ultimately it came back to the tried and true Cranium visual DNA. Ultimately, we did the exterior control for this main timer device,
After Conga, Cranium came back to FUSE with a playable foam core model of their physics inspired game that would eventually be named Bumparena. FUSE was tasked with the complete industrial design which included the ball release mechanism, scoring strategy and platform assembly given the box requirements.
The client sent us this great image (below) from a couple of enthusiastic Bumparena users!
Furilla had some moderate success in that it was optioned by toy maker and purveyor Kid Robot. FUSE principal, Tory Orzeck, has this ongoing chicken love and had this idea for a line of toys based on the offspring of 4 legged mammals getting together with chickens. Of course, single eyed creatures are also close to heart. This would result in these bipedal animals he dubbed BIPETS. He pitched the idea to KidRobot but got a big “Meh”.
It turns out Patagonia’s founder’s sion , Fletcher enjoys wild boar hunting, or at least, chasing. The team at Patagonia knew we could draw and even cartoon a bit and hired FUSE to develop an sub identity to reference Fletcher’s hobby. We generated several including Lard Hamilton, a reference to a pig version of big wave Surfer Laird Hamilton (that’s a double point maker given Ham is in his last name, but only this spear weilding boar was used.
Gerber came back to FUSE to help design a multitool that was designed for a slightly different demographic. A demographic that would appreciate a more hand friendly tool. This group would include maybe an older user and women. This meant easier tool deployment and a reduction of point load on the hand.
With our experience in designing tools and knives for GERBER we end up dreaming of versions of these products all the time. Most of them are not so great, but some are so simple and good they need to be realized. The multi-tool tripod was one of them. We put our noses to the grind stone and created a series of sketches, a wooden model and a presentation that could show how this new product would be appealing to a demographic new to the multi-tool world. This demographic included women and urbanites more familiar with Instagram than deer hunting. We presented and GERBER said “ME WANT” or the equivalent for a big corporation. FUSE did not do the industrial design but we do own the IP.
We were awarded the utility patent in 2014.
Florbot was created as a market development tool for GE Plastics (now Sabic) to stimulate material sales in the floor cleaning appliance market. FUSE principle, Toren Orzeck, then in the GE Plastics Advanced Design and Development Group worked with world renowned robotics scientist Allan Branch of Branch and Associates to develop this prototype. The product leveraged bleeding edge technology at the time and GE’s portfolio of engineering thermoplastics.
To use, the owner would take Florbot out of the box, charge him up and and set him against a wall. Like an old graphics fill program, Florbot would circumscribe the perimeter, then sweep the interior area and go back to its charging station when done.
Design-wise we knew the product would always be visible so the design was a combination or architectural and companion robot, think R2D2. We especially like that the dust bin’s handle doubles as a mouth. Additionally Florbot’s cap was made from translucent amber ULTEM. At the time, GE was pushing the idea that copper traces could be imaged directly onto heat resistant ULTEM so surface mount components could be attached directly.
Outdoor footwear giant KEEN, called on FUSE to help them with a concept for a new way to make footwear. KEEN had access to some highly productive German footwear making machines that could potential utilize the proposed manufacturing method. Outside of the highly insulative properties this manufacturing method provided this job was mostly a styling job. Our goal was to exploit the inherent properties of the process to create a super protective yet breathable and lightweight product.
The G0G0 Transporter was an internal FUSE science project seeking to solve 2 problems: 1. What’s the most ecologically friendly way to take advantage of Portland’s 20 minute neighborhood concept? And 2., what happens to the expensive strollers that children certainly grow out of ?
Answer number 1 is the wagon. With a wagon you can haul almost anything while on foot. That is :a 50 lb bag of dogfood, groceries, kids, even a large potted plant.
The question then became “is a wagon enough?” Would other people share this wagon love? So we thought more, and I had colleagues that were about to become parents and his or her colleagues would pitch in and buy them a really cool expensive stroller. This got me thinking about what happens to these strollers beyond being used for a younger sibling. No one wants a pooped-on, barfed-on second hand stroller or at least there did not seem to be a robust used stroller market. So, what if the stroller could be built more like a roof rack system where you could evolve the product to transform it into some-thing or things more useful once the child gets out of infancy?
This turned into the GoGo Transporter System whereby adding or subtracting components, you can make a variety of wheeled products.