Friday, October 28, 2011

Aika Urata of Aika Felt Works on a Japanese TV program




I will appear on a Japanese traveling program, "Otona no Europe Machiatuki", on Nippon Corporation on 28th November 2011, 19:00- 20:00. I will be guiding you in city of Rovaniemi including my studio. I can't watch it because I'm in Finland, but if you are happen to be in Japan, please check it!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Co-design Project - Wool and Static Electricity

I've gotten answers for the Q1: Which item(s) do you want for carrying your laptop?, and some people shared their stories about laptop cases as well. Thank you so much!

And one of them said that:

I'd prefer ONLY interesting, fine design of your style messenger bag with one or two pockets (for adapter, external HD, USB memory sticks and etc), which is comfortable and can fit in a computer in a synthetic pocket (sleeve). The pocket I have is made of an antistatic material.

Long time ago, I was carrying a CD-player in a felt bag. Fibers were falling off and filling in mechanical parts of that CD-player. I had to clean internal parts from time to time.
 

I mentioned antistatic material because one of the most damaging factor, which is not so known among users, for computers/TV and some other electric devices, is static electricity. As far as I remember, wool is one of the materials which in contact with plastics produces (if I may say so) statics.

!!

Yes, that's right! First I thought it's actually a bad idea to make laptop cases by wool felt after reading her comment, but then I noticed that both problems can be solved if I use cotton or linen lining on wool felt, or probably there must be other solutions as well. Moreover, if I can solve these problems then these aspects will turn into good reasons to produce new products, not offering just new styles of design.

After quick research about wool and damaging PCs by static electricity, I got to know that friction with wool and plastics causes static electricity, and it is recommended to touch some metal parts to discharge electricity from surface of your body before you install / uninstall inner parts of your PCs to protect from damaging by static electricity, and even gloves with metal wire woven are sold for that reason.

Oh, no, without her comment, I would have made laptop cases which might destroy your PCs by static electricity far from protecting your PCs..!!

I will make the research more about wool and static electricity, and hopefully find unique solutions. Let's see how it goes. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, again! So much fun!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Interim Results of the Q1 and Exploring Felt Laptop Sleeves

I am asking this question:
  
Which item(s) do you want for carrying your laptop?
on AikaFeltWorks fan page on Facebook and on this blog for developing felt laptop cases.

And Answers can be one of these:
- Messenger bag, just normal one is fine
- Messenger bag + inner, attachable sleeve
- Only sleeve that I can use with my bag
- Small case for mouse, etc.
- Messenger bag + inner, attachable sleeve + small case

I'm asking the same question in Japanese, too, and there is a difference in the answers between Westerners and Japanese. Japanese want "Only sleeves that I can use with my existing bag" the most. They don't need the messenger bag at all. Some mentioned that they need small case for AC adapter, USB memory sticks, external HD, and SD cards.

Then Westerners want "Messenger bag + inner, attachable sleeve" the most. Less interest for the small case than Japanese. Interesting results. How about you? Your answers help me deepen my understanding toward your needs of laptop cases. Vote if you haven't here!

While I'm waiting for getting your votes, I'm exploring on Etsy what kind of felt sleeves are sold there. My products will be competing with them because they are all handmade and sold online. Ups, there are already cool ones;). How can I make better one than them for you.. I must think!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Co-design project - When Do You Need Laptop Case, and How?

Now it’s time to start the project. Let me begin by recalling my situations to my mind when I was carrying my laptop.

When I got requests of developing a felt laptop case from my customers, what came in my mind was not “a laptop bag with some pockets”, but “a laptop SLEEVE which I can put in my bag”.

Usually I go to my workroom by bicycle, with my backpack putting my laptop, materials and papers in.

I have been wondering it would be nice if I have a laptop sleeve and small case for a power adapter, memory sticks and so on, to protect them from shock and coldness.

And one more occasion that I want to have a laptop case is when I go through hand-carrying baggage check in an airport.

I use my backpack when I take an airplane also. It’s not so nice to be in a hurry to take out my laptop from my bag and put it back in front of people. I have been wondering it would be nice if I can pass by there quickly and smartly.

To minimize this action, “opening a bag and taking it out, then putting it back and closing the bag”, it’s not wise to use a laptop sleeve in a backpack. Because you have to take out your laptop from the sleeve opening fastener or bottom by both hands with your back pack being held in your arm.

In this case, the coolest way is to take out your laptop directly from a shoulder or hand bag. Then I can make “a bag especially with a partition for a laptop”, or I can make “a laptop sleeve which is possible to open and close inside a bag without taking out the sleeve”.

So, can I say that I can make all of them, [shoulder bag / messenger bag] + [sleeve] + [small case], and make them possible to be used both by combination or individual use??

What kind of experiences do you have about your laptop? Please leave your comment!


And here comes a question.
Which item(s) do you want for carrying your laptop, if I make it/them by wool felt for you?

If you have your Facebook account, click here, and click "question" on the left, then answer the question!
If you don’t have the account, check one of the choices below and submit! Thank you for your cooperation!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Co-design project Question1 日本語

Monday, October 10, 2011

Co-design project begins!

Thanks to the IT technology, my life became so much easier to catch information and to exchange e-mails form the other side of the earth, and moreover, nowadays by social network services, I have been able to connect with my friends whom I haven’t seen for a long time.

By Facebook I could reunite with old school friends whom I haven’t heard for more than 20 years, and by Twitter I can follow big names’ words. I’m sure that it’s not just me who is not able to be away from the internet once being connected.

I have been thinking to develop felt products by using such IT technology asking opinions from you all. Realizing this idea is my challenge from now till the end of this year.

What I want to work on first is designing laptop cases. Although I have got requests from my customers to design cases for iPhone and iPod, I want to try to make laptop cases which I guess most of you already have.

I hope to get your opinions and wishes through this blog, AikaFeltWorks Japanese blog, Facebook and Twitter, by taking votes and getting comments. And showing developing process and monitoring prototypes, finally I want to complete products which I wouldn’t be able to produce by my own.

So please join my co-design project by voting, commenting, in any ways you can do. I’m already thrilled to get your voices!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Aika Felt Works on Finnish TAITO magazine

Finnish handicraft magagine TAITO 5/2011 introduces Aika Felt Works as this issue's "maker".

The article tells a story of me, Aika Urata, the founder and designer of Aika Felt Works, beginning from my childhood when I did handicraft for the first time in Japan. It continues to my immigration to Finnish Lapland, and then setting up the company, till now working as a mother.

I'm happy if you can have a look at this magazine, at bookstores or libraries in Finland! (Click to enlarge the article below)