CAT-TASTROPHE
Mem’s Leg is the tribute to a wonderful calico cat, Mem, who got into a tussle with an off leash Pitbull. Mem lost the fight and her rear leg after chewing through the stitches that had put her leg back on. While sounding tragic, Mem moved forward as a very loved and very happy 3 legged cat. She probably received more attention this way than she ever did prior.
The product, Mem’s Leg, is a fun plush super sized leg that doubles as a satchel, ready to carry your phone, keys and wallet. The interior is lined with flannel, reminiscent of that old sleeping bag your parents had as kids ( or if you’re old, maybe it was your sleeping bag). Of course, Mem’s Leg is part of the Furillaverse.
SPEAK- A MY LANGUAGE
Imagine you’re in high school and the new super cute Brazilian student arrives in your class and they barely speak English. With GWIJ on your phone you can start communicating with them immediately. You set your primary language to English (you’re in the USA) and then make your secondary language Portuguese. Start babbling, I mean, texting away, and you’ll be easily understood ( remember, don’t come on too strong, or they’ll think you’re a weirdo).
GWIJ is a translating and texting App that FUSE helped design. We did the name, the identity and key frame design, even the double bubble text holder! This app is just like your native IOS messaging app, but allows you to set your primary language and a secondary language that instantly translates your primary language. You can then send either your primary or secondary language to whomever you’re texting with. The best part is you can see both your primary and secondary languages in the double bubble text box.
With GWIJ, you can see the Portuguese in real time as you type your words of love, I mean, your words of your native language. Then, if you want to hear what the pronunciation is, you can hit the speaker icon in the double bubble and the GWIJ Translator Robot (she looks like Nicole Kidman) will speak what you’ve written out loud. This means you can practice saying clever things like, “Wow, I ‘d like to eat this bad cafeteria pizza off your beautiful neck”. OK, don’t say that, you barely know this person. Ask them something like, “do you have a pet Tapir back home in Brazil?” And, in Portuguese: “Voce tern uma anta de estinacaao no Brasil?”
Get GWIJ in the Apple App store now!
BE EVEN MORE SPLATTERPROOF
Orp Industries has always talked about building a running version of their innovative bike horn/ light product, and finally with our help, they’ve done it.
The Runners Orp or “Rorp” is for runners, walkers, hikers and boarders of all types. The big idea, of course, is to make pedestrians more visible by being more hearable, but the Rorp can do more. Runners and walkers who use nights or dark early mornings to run and walk not only have a beacon to be seen but also a very loud horn to let any would be attackers know their attention is unwanted, and if that’s not enough, an accessory cranulator (machined aluminum) is available to cause more serious damage.
The Rorp has a gumby-like malleable metal armature in its body so it holds on to you, works for small and large hand sizes and features a dual tone horn, just like the bike Orp, and the actuator is always under thumb. The Rorp is symmetrical so works on either hand. Multiple light modes including highly visible green LEDs. The LEDs fire every time either horn is fired. Newest versions incorporate a 180 degree Chip On Board (COB_ LED array. This new LED offers better visibility.
KIDS LOVE STICKS
After a friend’s kid got hurt while playing with a stick, we had an idea. Why not make a safe stick? All kids love sticks, right?! SofStick is that safe stick. Made from elastomeric bead foam (think that molded packing foam that protects your new iMac), Sofstick provides all the fun of a real stick without the stabbing risk. Also, SofSticks float so can easily be a replacement for a foam pool noodle and be an all season toy. We designed a 46″long sword size SofStick and a thicker SofLog version.
Slabtown In Stumptown
A very clever guy came to FUSE with an idea. A better way to set up a grid of rebar that floats within a slab of concrete. This wasn’t a totally new idea, but Kerry, the guy, had a host of improvements he wanted to add and he had a plan to make these really sell. These concrete chairs turn the painful time eating chore of setting up a grid of rebar into literally a snap. The rebar just pops into place at just the right height.Our job was to make them super strong and super cool. We made them feel like the super utilitarian future by instituting this octogonal theme throughout the structure. The octogonal base not only provided visual branding but also helped with keeping the rebar layouts in the field straight. FUSE designed all 27 variations that accomodate different sized bar and different heights. FUSE also redesigned the BIP logo along the way.
With Great Control Comes Great Power.
HP came to FUSE to get help creating a control station for their almost battle shipped sized Page Wide Web Press , the T1100S. This super sized printing press uses arrays of HP’s patented Ink Jet technology and applies it to a web (paper substrate) that is up to 110″ wide by literally forever. This sort of printer creates the 4 color images one would see on a corrugated box. The print is laminated to corrugated or other substrates in a finishing operation.
Our job was to come up with a work station that would encompass an array of monitors that not only control the print job but also monitor multiple live views of the print/machine in progress and provide an expert system database if any adjustments or repairs are needed to the printer or the print.
The Pillar design includes a flip down keyboard tray if needed and is modular should an HP customer want more than 3 monitors. Of course, our design would need to compliment the T1100S and be built in materials and processes that reflect the relatively low production quantities.
We were told the operator of this printer would never be sitting so we created a Pillar of adjustable and replaceable touch screens. The Pillar design includes a spacer that can be added or omitted should the operator be short or tall in stature. To house the hardware that runs the control station, we created a cabinet with cleverly disguised filter vents to avoid the accumulation of the paper particles that live in this environment. This project premiered at the DRUPA show in Germany in 2016.
THUMBELIEVABLE
When we built Orp, the super smal really cool bike horn/ bike light, we built it to be Remote Ready. Meaning: make a small wired switch that cold be placed under thumb that could go wherever the rider wanted. This simple product makes the Orp experience that much better as you never need to lift a hand to actuate either of Orp’s horn sounds. The REMORP uses a slick dual action switch. Press lightly on REMORP’s bulbous swelling to fire Orp’s loud sound and then press a little harder to fire Orp’s 96dB loud sound. The other cool thing about the REMORP is it provided an update to the Orp product line that worked for all Orps and Orp owners. It’s super neat and you should go to Orpland.com to get one… now!
No Fogging Way.
If you’re a skier or snowboarder you know how frustrating it is when everything is right but your goggles are fogged. It was this problem that client Dave McCullough expressed to his friends Howard Russell and Jack Cornelius. These two friends were sort of the dynamic duo of Patent Atty, Howard and Engineer, Jack. The two did some research and came up with a solution that could address this problem: Heated ITO film. ITO is a transparent conductive material that is sputtered onto a clear substrate. By applying a a voltage across this film, the surface heats up and decimates the fog. Having a firm grasp on the physics of fog, Jack correctly theorized we only needed to get the temperature above dewpoint.
Jack built a quick proof of concept with a couple of large lithium ion batteries and a piece of of ITO film. Next, Jack and Howard came to FUSE with the plan to build a ski goggle and challenge the industry. Long story short, FUSE did the industrial design, brought in the electrical engineer, built two generations of prototypes and completed the database for the final production version goggle. We also found the manufacturer and key suppliers and creatives along the way, named the colorways and even named the the company founded to deliver this new piece of equipment. Abom sold out of their first years production.
HEAR HERE!
Orp was developed after a spate of fatal right hook vehicle vs. bicycle accidents here in Portland, Oregon. It seemed like there had to be a way to make bikes more visible to drivers. It seemed a a loud horn could make this visibility happen. Also with this digital platform we could design our own sounds and have multiple sounds. We were really excited and started with just a dual tone horn but got a big “meh” from targeted users. When you look at the circuitry it got us thinking, it would be really easy to add LEDs wyhout adding a whole lot of volume.
Adding the lights made Orp much more intriguing. You ve got to have a light, right? With a slew of positive feedback we launched a Kickstarter campaign and it did fairly well. Our media coverage during the campaign and after production was amazing. Highlights included the TODAY show, Wired and the Wall Street Journal.
It took a year to get us to production Orps. We went to the factory twice during that year. About a year later we introduced the REMORP-Orp’s Remote. All Orps were built Remote Ready. First year sales were amazing and included the Museum of Modern Art Store. There are around 35,000 Orps in the world and still its growing.
A Friend Furever.
Furilla started life as a gift for a friend but then that friend’s friends also wanted Furillas. Next, FUSE had several projects to enter into the IDSA IDEA competition and we thought Furilla would be a welcome reprise from the more serious ID products the judges would evaluate. Unexpectedly, Furilla won a Bronze. With this small bit of notoriety it seemed like an OK idea to launch Furilla.com, a website that would sell Furillas. Soon enough Furillas ended up all over the world. Furilla was fortunate to slide into then unknown to us blossoming designer toy trend. Furilla got picked up by several media outlets and was sold at KIDROBOT and even had a premier at Chicago’s ROTOFUGI. Above is totally a cover story. The real story involves invitro fertilization and a freak accident.
Late in 2005 KIDROBOT decided they wanted to license Furilla and build production in Asia. We were on board but then the project hit a snag when the pricing swelled beyond feasibility.
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