The Wavecave Story
The Wavecave started off as a University project and had been influenced throughout my surf adventures in Indonesia. After paying a fisherman in Nias to take us to a random Island, my partner and I were dropped off somewhere in paradise but quickly found ourselves stranded with the sun setting fast, and malaria infected mosquitoes forming clouds around our heads. This is where it became clear, we had our board bags and boards but no space for a tent, assuming that we’d be crashing in hostels! If we only then had a wavecave…… the following year we travelled to Australia, this is where I realised the product’s full potential. Upon our return to Indonesia to mind a friends surf resort “Surfing Village” http://www.surfing-village.com/ during the off season months, we started to brainstorm. Now our days consisted of books, clove cigarettes, sweet Javanese coffee and a game after game of liar’s dice. This is when we decided to apply to Dragons Den never imagining that we would be chosen out of thousands to present the Wavecave on national television! We got an answer just a few days after our submition inviting us to London for an interview giving us only 3 weeks to make a prototype and business plan.
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In 2011 the Wavecave was entered to the ISPO competition in Munich, Germany and took the first prize for hardware.
Category Hardware Summer: Wavecave Sometimes simple things have the potential for change. This is the case with the winner in the category Hardware Summer. The jury decided to award the Wavecave from the UK, a tent and surfboard bag in one. “The tent offers a great added value at the beach, but does not take up any additional room during transport,” explains Markus Kreykenbohm, certified designer and the creative head of Zirkeltraining. In addition, he was impressed by the excellent finish and easy use. “This simple idea deserves our support” http://business.transworld.net/80527/news/wavegarden-poler-wavecave-win-ispo-brandnew-awards/attachment/screen-shot-2011-12-19-at-1-43-34-pm/ |
Prototypes
I started sketching and learning to sew as this was a completely new avenue for me.
To create a actual size mock-up of the tent I used tent poles and garbage bags. I then used the marked bags as patterns for the textile prototype.
I put my sewing skills to
the test and created a small scale prototype which helped my lecturer and
myself understand the functionality of the product.