Pillar Product Design is very excited about working with the Wellgo team and developing new bike components. Personally, I have known and worked with Wellgo for over 15 years. Wellgo is an amazing team and offer world class manufacturing services. Wellgo I believe the largest supplier and manufacturer of bike pedals on the planet. The company is a family owned business and has been supporting and leading the mountain bike, downhill, commuter, road / race bike industry with their high quality world class designs.
So with SIA wrapped up, it was exciting to see Flow’s new 2012- 2013 binding line “The Active Strap” be premiered for the first time. Pillar Product Design worked with the Flow team to develop this new technology. We assisted FLOW Snowboards on developing the active strap as well as the new ratchet lock ankle and toe buckle mechanism. You are looking at some serious product development work and enginuity at work. This binding design is a complete game changer for FLOW’S binding line. You are looking at the future. The active strap allows the straps to pull another 1″ higher when high back is pulled to the open position. The Pillar and Flow team worked diligently to get this system improved and optimized. We wanted to keep the construction simple, reliable and strong. It was an honor to work with the FLOW team developing these innovative features on the new line.
I took a month off and went to Peru with My family for the month of Jan. We checked out some amazing Inca and pre-Inca ruins. One thing we came across that was amazing from an engineering stand point was an aqueduct system that was cut from solid stone using a harder stone. These aqueducts were nearly 8km in length and they used ingenious designs like throwing a 90 degree angle in the path to lower the water level and slow the flow. They used system like narrowing or splitting the aqueduct to raise the water to transfer the water to a higher location. This amazing system in Andes took water and split it so one water way went left and moved water to the east which eventually dumped into the Atlantic and the other moved it to the right which eventually went to Pacific. Amazing engineering feat some 3500+ years ago, even before steel was discovered.
MTN Approach featured #1 innovative product in Outside magazine 2012 Radical Design Award. Stoked production product to hit the market soon. The bindings and straps on this system were developed by Pillar Product Design Seattle, WA
Pillar Product Design has been working directly with Black Rapid for over a 3 months now to benchmark new designs and develop innovative and ergo friendly camera / strap component and accessories. Black Rapid only uses the best of the best with the design, materials and construction. They do a ton of field testing as well as lab testing before any product sees the light of day. The Pillar Product Design team is very excited to be working in conjunction with the Black Rapid team.
The Pillar Product Design team has been working diligently with Horse Power Design developing our new web site. The site should be up and running in about 1 to 2 weeks. We have added a bunch of new projects as well as features for our clients to better interface with us. We also took a long look at making it easier to navigate and search the site for information. Every month we will be spotlight a client on our front page with a video feed. Here is a peek at our new face.
MTN Approach testingAt Pillar Product Design we are so excited for Cory Smith to be growing MTN Approach line of product. In the true spirit of product innovation, Cory is learning and understanding the energy and persistence needed to effectively launch an innovative product to market. He has spent incredible time and resources testing and re-testing his product continually trying to increase the over-all quality, functionality and value of his product. A big cheers to his efforts on making this a spectacular and innovative product.
Pillar Product Design is bringing on a new talented individual on the 20th of this month. He is a recent graduate from San Francisco School of Arts. His experience includes industrial design, concept development, 3D modelling and new product development. Dan has a strong background in audio, electronics and action sports. We are very excited that he will be joining our small team and his skill sets and experience will be a great addition to the services that Pillar Product Design offers. Dan will be working closely with Tyler on up and coming projects.
So I was looking through some old digital pics and came across some skull candy booth pictures. Boards of the past. I used to own some of these boards and was blown away what some of these old sticks are worth. It was a blast I was checking out some of the Barfoot boards and who was hanging out was Chuck Barfoot. I had the chance to make turns with Chuck back in the late 80′s in Tahoe. He frequently hit Boreal and Donner Ski Pass. back in the day Chuck had a big ol Red beard that was like 2 feet long. Now he is a well aged man who has the same spirit he did 30 years ago. It was a blast that Skull Candy set-up this wonderful collection of snowboard history. I think I am going to pull out My PJ5 and mega-flex boots and make some turns this weekend.
At Pillar Product Design we do a fair amount of product and over-all random research in the early stages of the product development cycle. I am always looking for random examples of how designs marry materials, color, textures, shapes and forms together into a design and a product that is time-less. I basically geek out on this stuff and really love to see creative who can really push the edge of where form meets practical design and functionality. When I come across a design that is minimalistic but fuses multiple functions, materials to meet a given form and performance, It shows that the product that has gone thru the complete design process and has been modified over an over until you have only the essence. This stripped down core is beautiful and well worth the resources, energy and effort.
