So Sandra and Jutta, the first product concept
that you worked on together was the slat.
Did you actually design the physical slat,
or did you create visual prototypes?
Tell us about this process.
When you work for a start-up, it's just really important
to be really efficient with your time, all the time.
So I usually start thinking about testing a concept out
on a minimal-energy level.
So what I did is I created just Photoshops of mockups.
The next step was then to actually design
the physical slat and really put it-- just give it
a little more style and identity.
It became somewhat apparent, as we
looked at more and more benches, that the benches are all
a little too different.
That the practicality of, even if we had different drill
patterns, that the distances are still quite different
and sizes are still quite different.
That it wouldn't be quite as practical.
But the interesting thing is you probably
wouldn't have come to this conclusion without trying.
Of course, yeah.
Always keep trying.
Keep trying.
And what is the quickest way to try and really validate
your idea, is really important.
That's great.
So what happened next?
The next step was how can we make it more modular,
and how can we make it more adaptable?
So it's like, we said, OK, what if I repacked it
into the smallest possible box we could make,
that we could really attached to existing surfaces.
So that's where this design came from.
So you're trying to avoid the problem of installing
a slat on the bench, but rather, create
a box that can exist next to any bench.
Next to or on top of a flat surface.
That's interesting.
So what we noticed is that in an environment like that,
it really blends into the urban environment,
and people didn't really notice it.
Yeah.
And that, for us, then, was a problem.
So why was it a problem that it was not noticeable?
That's a problem because we're trying to be a public amenity,
and we want to make it easy and accessible for people to use.
So then it became much more catchy, much more bright,
right?
And we were thinking, well, in addition,
how can we make something that is a little more modular?
Why did you care about modularity?
Modularity is important to address different situations
in the city. and every city's a little bit different, right?
So we want everyone to have access to the services
that we're providing.
So we needed to make-- or we wanted
to make it modular enough so that we, one, can make
our own product, but then also maybe piggyback
onto other physical infrastructure.
That's really cool.
So modular, visible.
So at this point, I really said, like, hey,
let's just take a step back.
What if we made a piece of furniture
that could be used as a box alone,
but also as a standalone unit, and as an entire bench.
So we can give clients the option of different tiers.
And so this is where this design came from.
So this is an entire bench that can stand alone.
But it also can stand next to existing seating surfaces,
or it can be mounted on top of existing surfaces,
as we've just seen in the previous iteration.
And just to be clear, you didn't design that physical bench.
You designed visual prototypes of it.
These were just renderings.
But we were running around the local community, our friends,
and we just literally showed it to everybody.
And said, hey, what do you think about this?
And that was something super valuable.
A lot of inventors, a lot of start-ups,
actually really protect their designs
and don't share it before it there's a copyright in place--
sorry, a design patent in place--
and they're very secretive about it.
We've really taken the opposite approach, and we had said,
OK, we're going to use our community.
We're going to engage them.
We want their feedback.
And we're going to leverage that to design a better product.
That's really great.
And so what did you learn in this process?
You started showing this design.
One comment that we also got from this design, for instance,
was that it's somewhat asocial.
People are separated.
But actually, as we said, we want to be a social magnet.
Very interesting.
We wanted to bring people together.
So in this design, it would separate it.
So that's when the next design came into play,
where people can sit next to each other.
And that was a really funny one, actually.
That was a very funny one.
Like again, we showed it around to our local community,
our friends and entrepreneurs--
And Pip-- Pip was the one that the Media Lab--
she's an amazing designer and she
works on bringing emotions into a design.
And she's actually developing great software for that.
And we kind of looked at it and we were like--
She analyzes shapes and colors and what sort
of psychological influence that has.
Yeah.
And we said, like, it's kind of like a sad, fat baby.
But then taking into consideration
this shape factor, we went to somewhat very close to what
the final product looks like, which
is this design, where basically just flipped it, you know?
And then there's also-- OK, we had two outlets.
The other one had one.
We have two outlets here, so it becomes even more social.
This was the final rendering, and this was basically
how it resulted in the end.
And it was funny, talking about this really tight deadline.
We started the design process, I think, in March, with a slat?
February, maybe?
And while I was in Spain in May, at the end of May,
I got an email.
And somewhat between the lines, it
said, like, we have to present the Soofa in two weeks
at the White House.
And so, voila!
Two weeks later, the 17th of June,
we presented the Soofa, from starting the whole process
of all the designs that you've just seen,
presented it at the White House.
And there he is.