Kickstarter is an online platform where various products and projects of budding creators collect public funds by convincing investors to provide them with funds to start a business. And since there is no recession for ideas even in Slovenia, quite a few brave and optimistic Slovenian individuals or teams went to Kickstarter with their projects. Some were more, others less successful, but this did not stop their business journey. This time, we present the most popular Slovenian projects on Kickstarter, which gained enough supporters and funds to start successful production.
Tratar Bikes – elegant wooden city bikes
The Slovenian trio of young designers, consisting of Janez Tratar, Nejc Puš and Matej Ramšak, presented test models of elegant wooden bicycles on Kickstarter last December - the Kick shift bicycle (with gears) and the Single-speed bicycle (without gears). Both versions use the same wooden frame, which is hand-crafted from several layers - the bike is thus made up of three parts, and consequently has fewer weak points. It is available in two color combinations, light from Slovenian larch and dark from Slovenian walnut and oak. Handcrafted and stylishly finished works of art have found their believers in the world - on Kickstarter, instead of the pledged twenty-five thousand US dollars, they managed to collect more than thirty-seven thousand US dollars. In May this year, the first clients in the world started using wooden wheels with a Slovenian seal.
www.tratarbikes.com
Kefir jar - an innovative container for preparing kefir
The Kefirko project, which is supported by Marko Borko and Andrej Glažar and their team, received great interest during the Kickstarter campaign - in addition to people who prepare their own kefir at home, interest was also shown by people who are interested in both healthy eating and life style. The project, which was covered by the media not only in Slovenia and Europe, but also in the United States, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, exceeded its goal of thirty thousand US dollars on Kickstarter by ten thousand dollars. And what is kefir? Kefir jar is a specially designed glass container with two functional lids, which provide optimal conditions for fermentation and separation of grains from kefir. All we have to do is shake the kefir grains into any liquid, wait 24 hours and then remove the grains. Kefir retains its original taste and freshness.
www.kefirko.com
ZenEgg – a wooden egg designed to relax and enjoy the moment here and now
Designer Gašper Premože also decided to take his product to the crowdfunding platform. He made a special wooden ZenEgg egg - an egg that is our personal totem, dedicated to relaxing and enjoying the moment here and now. With the Kickstarter campaign, he reached his goal of two thousand two hundred US dollars in just over two days of the campaign, and the imaginative product became a real hit, as his campaign approached 360% support for the project. ZenEgg is an egg-shaped object that reminds us to take time for ourselves. It is made of Slovenian walnut, pear and maple wood. The rounded shape, the feeling of warmth of the solid wood and its soothing smell make us want to put aside work and worries for a while and indulge in the sensuality of the moment. Due to its ergonomic shape, the ZenEgg also acts as a massage tool that releases tension in the body, and its oscillation in a standing position offers a real meditative experience.
www.zenegg.si
Kobeiagi Kilims – Handcrafted woven rugs
The goal of architect Ivana Blaž from Bosnia and designer and illustrator Nina Mršnik from Slovenia is primarily to preserve the centuries-old tradition and revive the use of chilims - handmade woven carpets that once had their place in almost every home. With their idea and love for beautifully designed products, they also impressed on Kickstarter. They tried to raise ten thousand US dollars with an online campaign, but they also exceeded their goal by more than two thousand US dollars. Each chili is unique and the result of long-term manual work. When making the looms, they use exclusively local wool, which is famous for its quality. With its thermoregulatory properties, wool is useful both in winter, when it warms, and in summer, when it cools pleasantly. Weaving chilims is a time-consuming job that requires a great deal of precision and concentration. For example, it takes four days to make a 100 x 70 cm chili, and six weeks for the largest 200 x 300 cm chili. With new patterns that follow the latest design trends and a successful Kickstarter campaign, Ivan and Nina are thus opening a new chapter in the re-popularization of chilims.
www.kobeiagikilims.com
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Olaf – innovative hybrid skiro
The Olaf team, whose main designer and owner of the patent for the folding mechanism is Boštjan Žagar, sent their project to Kickstarter last September. The team condensed the idea of urban mobility into two superbly designed scooter models: OLAF Business is a scooter, stroller and certified hand luggage (three in one), and OLAF Urban is a scooter, backpack, stroller and longboard (four in one). Both products were probably the most advanced and engineered scooters on the market when they entered the campaign - they increased the volume, reduced the weight and increased the practicality of the product. Although the two models differ in several details, they are both intended for both men and women of all ages and both carry loads of more than a hundred kilograms. The project was supported by more than two hundred users on Kickstarter, and they exceeded their goal of thirty thousand US dollars by more than half.
www.olaf-scooter.com
Goat Mug – a coffee cup in the shape of a goat's horn
Team members from the design studio Desnahemisfera and the marketing company Equa joined forces and together created a unique coffee cup that combines elegance, innovation and utility. The inspiration for the development of the cup in the shape of a goat's horn was found in the legend of goats, which were said to be the main "culprit" for the invention of coffee. The 100% waterproof cup, free of harmful BPA, is equipped with a leather holder that can easily be turned into a coaster, but at the same time it also has an important advantage: with the help of a convenient strap, it can be easily carried on the back, and the liquid does not spills and stays hot for at least two hours. On the most famous online platform for public fundraising, the team members collected more than four hundred thousand US dollars, and more than ten thousand supporters contributed. Goat Mug has thus become one of the Slovenian record holders on Kickstarter.
www.goat-story.com
SipaBoard – the world's first self-inflating cuttlefish
SipaBoard is another success story, this time from Kamnik, which has already reached its goal halfway through its Kickstarter campaign. The first inflatable sup with a built-in electric motor exceeded its goal of one hundred and fifty thousand US dollars in just over two weeks, and they ended up with almost three hundred and fifty thousand US dollars. The team thus ranked second among all Slovenian teams that have ever participated in fundraising on this largest online portal for crowdfunding. Sebastjan Sitar is behind the whole story, and he found his inspiration during a summer vacation. This is how SipaBoard was born, the first self-inflating sup in the world with a built-in electric drive. The more than three-meter-long board is made of PVC with two-layer "dropstitch" technology, which ensures the strength and durability of the board. The soup weighs fourteen kilograms and was designed by Jaro Jelovac. It is also characterized by extreme simplicity, as we just unfold the SipaBoard on the shore and wait for it to inflate, which should not take more than five minutes. It allows a speed of around five kilometers per hour, and it comes with a wireless paddle, which is also a "gas pedal". The board is especially safe for children and beginners due to the built-in motor.
www.sipaboards.com
Flykly Smart Wheel – the most popular Slovenian project on Kickstarter
Flykly Smart Wheel is a product that turns our old bicycle into a modern electric bicycle. It is the rear wheel, in which a motor is installed, which is automatically activated when the cyclists start to press the pedals. An interface that connects to a smartphone is also installed in the bike. The bike allows a speed of twenty-five kilometers per hour and a number of other advanced functions, such as locking the bike via smartphone and tracking the bike in case of theft. The smart bike is available in different sizes, and assembly requires no more knowledge than replacing a punctured inner tube. Niko Klanšek, an entrepreneur born in Slovenia, currently residing in the USA, took care of the conceptual design of the product. Despite the fact that he has lived there for ten years, he is still closely connected with Slovenia. The idea was born after several years of operation in the field of selling electric bicycles. Since Niko saw that electric bikes are usually too big an investment for most users, his team decided to find a new solution. On the crowdfunding portal Kickstarter, they collected a record seven hundred thousand US dollars for the development of a smart bicycle, or as much as seven times more than they originally planned, and their project became a real star of Kickstarter.
www.flykly.com
