In 2017 my friend Jonas and I created several products.
Here's how the high-quality wrist watch MILA and a series of the wireless charger GERDA came into existence.
MILA
In 2017, Jonas invited me to join him on a trip to Marbella, Spain. He was hired to do a photo shoot for a hotel there and could bring someone - so of course I packed together and joined him. Over a dinner we talked about side projects and what we would like to work on.
Since the age of 12 I had dreamed of designing my own watch one day - I knew exactly what it should look like, had a collection of inspiration and sketches.
The rest of the trip we couldn't stop talking about the idea and were doing the first research. At the airport on the way back to Germany we were already looking up how to find a manufacturer on our phones.
The part we expected to be the most complicated turned out to be relatively quick and smooth. In a matter of a few weeks we went from initial sketches into full-fledged designs. Spending a few hours we decided on the project name Lykke, bought a domain and set up a simple landing page.
Reached out to a list of manufacturers and had first conversations. We decided on one company based in Shenzhen that offered to create a completely custom mold for the watch case and use Japanese or Swiss movements. After going through an extensive design review process we transferred ~$600 and hoped for the best.
Jonas and I were looking for a way to produce custom straps. We had already found a supplier for organic, naturally dyed leather goods from Germany and were hoping to find a manufacturer that would be willing to make a small batch.
In a taxi on the way home from a birthday party the driver and I had a long conversation. I found out he's an artist who creates images by cutting and layering different textured leather.
I of course had to ask if he would by any chance know how to create watch straps from scratch, and he actually said yes.
Two days later we met at the strangers apartment to look at his laser machine, discussed what we were looking for, learning a ton about leather manufacturing and creating our first few straps over coffee.
After receiving all the parts and testing the watches for durability, we redefined some small details and ordered improved an improved version from the manufacturer.
We never started selling the watches publicly, but some friends and ourselves are wearing them to this day. It was an amazing experience with a lot of learnings and we might pick up the project again in the future and create an actual business around them (and even launch a few other minimalist products).
GERDA – Wireless Charger
The second product we created is a set of wireless chargers made out of concrete.
All photography done by Jonas Friedrich.