A family of Fourteen Paper and Soap Dispensers for public restrooms.
SCA, Tork Elevation, 2009

The project had a successful launch positioning Tork as global design leader. The design was awarded IF Design Awards and Red Dot design award in 2009

Practices:

Strategy
Product
Engineering for production
Colors and Materials

Recognition:

IF Awards
Red Dot Awards

Q&A

You've just designed a line of soap and paper dispensers that will go into public restrooms around the world. From a design point of view, is that a big project or a small one?

This is for a Swedish company called SCA, the 2nd largest paper company in the world. When they have replaced all of their dispensers in airports, hotels, etc., they will have over a million people using them every day, from Sydney to Bombay to Las Vegas. It just shows you what design is. This is not a design statement. Nothing you would see in a fashion magazine. Nothing you can buy in a store. If I never spoke about it, it would just fade into the background. It's probably the most silent project I've worked on, but it's also going to impact more people than anything else I've ever done.

Initial concept sketches. Creation of a "capsule" like simple shape.

Why do you call it "silent?"

Because in a public restroom, you don't want anything to stand out. No design statement. When someone pulls out, say, a paper towel, you want them to feel like they're getting the first paper towel that's ever been pulled out of that dispenser. "Ah, this is my paper towel." So the design language is silent and solid and sculptural. There's a hardness and shell-like quality to all of it.

Any unexpected challenges with this project?

There was one major innovation from a design point of view. People servicing these need to know when they have to refill the paper. That's normally done with a little window on the side. But the window is kind of squiggly and breaks up the whole surface. So on mine, the whole lower portion of the front is a window. I pushed really hard for this. We had to go all over the world to find a tooling method that would fuse the window to the solid part of the box. The clear plastic is co-injected with the solid part. It's a major innovation. And it means better durability and increased hygiene, because there's no seam to catch dirt. So a side benefit is that these will be easier to service and to keep clean. That all started with me designing the window then asking if we could make that happen.

Early form development in cad. Translucent bottom concept.

Engineering development of internal mechanism and detailed form development in cad.

You spent almost three years on this project. What have you learned?

There are 14 different objects in this collection, and they all have to work together. Plus there were a lot of constraints because, as public-restroom objects, these had to meet laws and guidelines of several different countries. What that whole experience has given me is a newfound interest in creating objects that don't say anything, objects that will be accepted by a worldwide audience. I had to dare to do nothing.

Over 1 million people use the design every day, all over the world.

Words By John Bradley

Mobile Phone Concept
NEC 2007

Leather covered flip out phone.

Practices:

Strategy
Product

Case Study

The design was built around the thought that you carry your phone with you all the time. Mostly in your pocket. Old leather key chains came to mind. Something with a nice touch and memories of important access. like to a car.

The outside of the phone is completely covered in leather with aluminum keys for a tactile and durable experience. One innovative feature is the additional screen with steaming information. Privacy is more and more important and this will allow you to check sms, email and news with a glance... without opening your phone.

A flip out touch screen resides in the leather cover. Flip it out and you have access to keyboard, web and information. Worth to note is that the phone was designed with the Japanese market in mind, they prefer smaller phones and the real estate of the screen is therefore smaller than you might expect.

Chair
Cappellini, Italy 2002

Shown at Milano furniture fair in 2002. Fiberglass and Shaped Leather.This valuable collaboration allowed the studio to tinker with the hard lines of furniture, sport and technology design. The design allows the user to sit differently on the chair, in a normal position but also like on a saddle creating a different experience. The design incorporate sport manufacturing technology for the formed leather seat.

Collaboration with Cynthia Rowley X Roxy
Limited Edition Surfboards, 2010

The boards was a collaboration with Cynthia Rowley for her collection with Roxy. She went surfing one day and saw the board, tried one and was hooked. When she was about to launch her innovative collection for Roxy she asked me to collaborate on a few boards for the show. Available in limited edition at Cynthia's Pop Up store in Montauk, Barneys New York and Colette, Paris

Openmoko
Wikireader, 2010

The Internet without the Internet. Low power device that delivers the whole of Wikipedia - 3.5 million articles and counting... without a connection to the internet. Runs a whole year on two AA batteries. Manufactured by Openmoko, 2010

Practices:

Strategy
Product
Engineering for production
Identity
Communication & Web
Packaging

Q&A

The Internet without the Internet. Brand Development

Could you explain the shape? It's not what one would expect.

It's all crooked, skewed, asymmetrical. With this we wanted to convey that we are looking at things differently. We are Open Source. Not a perfectly closed system from a large corporation. Instead we are open for interpretation by the user. And the hand is made to hold anything like branches, rocks, etc. Why make a perfect rubber grip every time? Ergonomics can be such a modern contrivance.

Who's the target user?

I think it's anybody who reads, anybody who wants to learn. It's a broad target. Anybody can use it.

Why not have web capability?

I think there's a benefit to going offline and having people focus and spend more time, have more space to think. We've lost that with today's experiences. It's a constant blur. So our idea was to take one of these many online experiences and put it on a very simple device. I designed it with only three buttons, plus a touch screen. There's a search button, a history button, an a third button that brings up random articles from any of the three million articles in Wikipedia. That one's a lot of fun. Lots of unexpected discovery. Once you get into this, you spend more and more time just looking at things, exploring.

Low power technology - Runs a whole year on two AA

Wikipedia is constantly changing. Will you be able to update this?

Absolutely. You'll just plug the SD card into your computer and update it with new content.

What's the development process been most focused on?

Keeping it simple. We really want the user focus on the experience of reading Wikipedia. That's why we only have three buttons. There is really no interface. You're just straight into the content. You can scroll, highlight links, explore. But the whole experience happens within the device.

So is this more about research, like a library, or discovery, like in a museum?

I think it's more about exploration, discovery, community. There's a community aspect to this that goes beyond simply how Wikipedia is created and extends to sharing with friends and family. Sharing knowledge is one of the great things that you can do within family. Look at all the home games that are based on trivia and such. So with this device you're going to be able to share your history. Say you're doing research. You could send someone else your history. Or a professor in university could share a research list with his class. It will be like a knowledge playlist.

Words By John Bradley
Photography By Nick Allen

Sport Equipment
Helmets and Goggles
1999 to 2011

For the last 15 + years I have designed sport equipment for many leading brands like Smith, Flow, Neil Pryde, and Scott.

Many of the products have become iconic brand builders and several are best sellers. Some have changed the category forever.

Case Study

It all started in late 80's with the V3 goggle for Smith, the first modern goggle with a "wrap around" lens. It became a huge success for Smith and changed the category forever. The collaboration with Smith lead to design of several other successful goggles.

Smith V3 goggle - The first wrap around lens goggle. Designed in the 90's

Another game changers was the Warp. It was the first goggle with "outriggers", an innovation that most helmet compatible goggles use today. They where a success also in motocross. The designs helped define Smith as an innovator and leader in the category.

We then designed a wide range of goggles and helmets for Scott helping to repositioning them from a fading brand - to one of the leading brands in Europe. The design development included, brand strategy and product range development.

For Smith we designed the V3, Anthem and Warp - Commercial successes.

Scott MS1 helmet - The first in mold helmet with integrated ventilation features.

Design and Engineered in CAD for Production

It also included Fit and Sizing development as we developed the product range from scratch. Through these multitude of project we have developed a broad experience in developing head and eye wear from concept to production. All of the projects where engineered and developed for tooling in CAD by us.

We develop the products in CAD for production. Tooling ready files.

How we work with sport brands

We have worked with several leading brands to develop new concepts and brand directions. While we like to be involved early on to set the direction of the brand together, we take pride in developing innovative design that we are able to take all the way to production. We are currently developing packaging for a leading surf brand that is both environmentally friendly and shows off their good in the right way. In short - we like challenges.

Capabilities

Strategy
Brand Development
Concepts
Product Development
Prototyping
Engineering for production
Packaging

Windsurfing Sail Range
Neil Pryde, 2003

For the last 15 years I have designed sport equipment. Many of the products have become iconic brand builders and several are best sellers. Some have changed the category. This is one of them.

Practices:

Brand Strategy
Product Development

Recognition:

IDEA Gold Award
IF Awards
Red Dot Awards

Case Study

Our studio was asked by Neil Pryde to challenge the stagnant windsurfing market in 2002. Neil Pryde is known for their engineering and undisputable performance. Windsurfing champions such as Josh Stone, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Jason Polakow, and Antoine Albeau compete with Neil Pryde windsurfing sails, and give input into development by testing new products.

Neil Pryde was ready to challenge the market with a recognizable silhouette that could become a new company hallmark. They wanted something really different from everything out there, but it still had to convey the performance standard that Neil Pryde owns in the market.

They were concerned with the fact that the market was so saturated that it had become impossible for customers to really know what they're getting with a windsurfing sail. There was nothing to differentiate the sails, and it seemed that the graphics changed each season…new colors…but there was no direct link with performance and design. The industry standard with windsurfing sail design was to splash graphics on the sails in the final stages.

I started the design project with breaking down the sail, stripping it bit by bit to get to the core foundation. Traditionally the sail is composed of a colored mast sleeve, colored battens and the large graphics that were juggled every season for a different look. Once these parts were made invisible, the frame became the apparent signifier. We then focused on how each frame should appear based on how the sail was expected to perform. The wave sails are more robust, and have a more agressive edge to the frame of the sail, while the flat-water sails, which are faster, have a leaner almost sliced edge to their frame.

From this, I then began reintroducing design elements to co-exist with each model's inherent performance requirements. We worked closely with Robert's team of design engineers for many months…a continuous flow of emailing CAD drawings back and forth and discussing detailed configurations of each particular sail.

Because we used the sail's frame as the basis, all visual clues that followed were tightly integrated into a single visual language that articulated the streamlined efficiency that the racer would expect, and how that might differ from the wave surfer's desire for maneuverability. The fact that our studio was able to collaborate so closely together with their engineering and design experts throughout the entire design process was essential. Neil Pryde claims that this sail collection is one of their most technically advanced, and I believe it was due to the collaborative capacity of the entire team to really work with design from the beginning.

The Design received an IDEA Gold Award, IF design Award and Red Dot award the same year and outsold all other brands at introduction. Neil Pryde is still to this day using the same basic concept and are now regarded as the leading brand.

Snowboarding Binding Product Range
Flow, 2003-2005

An Innovative design solution that greatly improves convenience and performance

Practices:

Strategy
Product
Engineering for production
Colors and Materials

Recognition:

IF Awards
Red Dot Awards

Case Study

Back in 2003 we completely re-engineered Flow's snowboarding binding and created a iunique design that still stand today. it increased sales from around 50K to over 200K in less than 3 years, establishing Flow as a valid leading brand in the snowboarding market.
The tedious bending over to continually fasten or release the binding is not what snowboard enthusiasts sign up for as part of their sport experience. The alternative step-in binding with a stiffer boot often compromised performance. Meyerhoffer's quest for a solution of simplicity, control and comfort found the studio re-designing the entire binding.

Drilling the geometry of existing binding design down to its core, the studio examined the beneficial traits of both the strap and the step-in binding and engineered prototypes to explore simplification of entry and exit as well as enhanced performance.

By reshaping the hiback, overhauling the entire geometry of the binding, and re-configuring the heelgrip, prototype testing resulted in improved performance and stability in the heel.
Simultaneously light and durable, the binding's trump card is that it is easy to operate in the snow...the grip of the lever, a simplified opening and closing, and the feeling on the ride are the functional elements that informed the design.

Our focus: Innovation in products and brand experiences.

Established in 1999 Meyerhoffer designs innovative products and create unique brand experiences for startups and leading brands. Thomas Meyerhoffer is a highly recognized designer with industry-wide reputations for bringing innovative ideas and brands to life.

Meyerhoffer's focus is creating new and compelling brand & business stories for our clients by innovating product and experience. Regardless of client size or sector, Meyerhoffer seeks to collaborate with new interesting projects that has the potential to change the game..to take big steps. Projects that combine strategic market insight with innovative design represent our main target for ideal partnerships. Simply put, to create meaningful experiences that will be remembered by the users as something positive in their life.

Broad Perspectives

We create products and strategic design solutions for a diverse group of clients in technology, sports and lifestyle. This unusually broad range of design challenges keeps us inspired and aware of the future as we are searching for the context of tomorrows experiences from our design studio in California.

Our strategic approach to design and innovation have reinvigorated and in some cases resurrected individual brands and redefined entire product categories. Some of our clients and partners are silicon valley startups, some world leading brands and some companies that need to reinvent themselves.

How we work

We always work in close relationships with our clients and partners and is not following the typical a and b team approach of large design consultant...or extensive brainstorms to nowhere... Our aim is clear - to bring concepts and ideas to market in an effective and powerful way.

The team around Meyerhoffer is a highly talented group of designers, experienced with bringing significant design programs to market for a global roster of business leaders.

Brand and product design

From initial concepts through engineering and manufacture liaison, product development is the most effective tool to building brands & businesses. The products and services we create are completely integrated in the brand and strategies we set forth We are fostering change and support the evolution of the brands we work with through strategic implementations in design, packaging, graphics, web, UI and naming.

We also have extensive resources and experience creating design engineered for production. We create the final engineering files and interfacing with manufacturing in order to make a successful transitioning of the strategic design idea through to manufacturing.

Meyerhoffer believe that brand and product are inextricably tied. Brand story cannot be separated from its physical and experiential manifestation... both must be considered as critical parts of a greater whole in order to create innovation. This notion continues to be our central driving tenet.

Expertise

Innovation
Product Development
Engineering all the way to production
Brand Identity
Communication
Packaging

Project partnerships

We work with a wide variety of clients and partners that includes world leading brands, startups, innovation driven projects and non-profit organizations. We have developed a business model that allows us to engage and create a valuable relationship in one the following ways.

Consulting based projects

Retainer and project based fee structure with medium to large companies. Generally focused on product development, strategy and communication. Meyerhoffer believes that brand and product are inextricably linked, and our earliest client work was focused on bringing this to reality for some of the world's best-known companies. We're happy to say that many of these relationships continue to thrive. While it's easy to qualify these as "traditional consulting gigs", we've worked with a variety of large companies in both project and retainer-based engagements to push the boundaries of what would normally be delivered, focusing instead on creating innovation and in evolving current experiences and building new businesses.

Startup projects

We have worked with many successful startups since 1999. It is true partnerships where fees are reduced in exchange for an equity stake or royalty agreement. This enables a greater variety of collaborations with a much broader set of firms and we have always found that early-stage companies have a great appetite for true innovation. This is, of course, a source of great creative challenge and inspiration. Partnerships represent the majority of our program roster. We enjoy the excitement of working with start-ups.
As each startup has a unique set of targets, goals and challenges, and we structure each engagement such that we make sure we meet and exceed them by working in close partnership. This way Meyerhoffer is able to impact brand, product and business evolution at a foundation level, providing an effective and design-driven strategy that brings clarity to the targets from the very early days and success as we move forward.
Some of our clients include Andy Rubins Danger, Steve Tomlins Chumby, Sean Moss-Pultz Wikireader and Peak Medical, all successful startup's.

Thomas Meyerhoffer

About Thomas

Thomas Meyerhoffer goal when creating innovations in the fields of sports and technology is to alter user perceptions. Surf a Meyerhoffer surfboard, and the waves feel different. Turn on a Meyerhoffer-designed computer, and the Internet seems different. Sit on one of his chairs, and, well, you get the idea. For Thomas, a new product is not an end, but a beginning and opportunity for someone to experience some part of the world in an entirely new way.

Thomas is not simply a designer; he is an innovator who, through close partnerships with leading brands, small startups, and everything in between, has reinvigorated—and in some cases resurrected—individual companies and redefined entire product categories. His groundbreaking designs have been displayed in museums and books and covered by international media. Yet his products are most often found in offices, homes and the outdoors all around the world. Thomas is that rare designer whose work resonates as strongly within the industry, as it does with users simply looking for new ways to have fun.

While Thomas has a long record of success in broad categories like furniture, technology, and sporting goods he is equally passionate about start up endeavors. Whether working on his own designs or immersing himself with a well known brand, Thomas approaches each project with the same overarching philosophy—to understand the needs of the user, the history of the brand, and the social context, and then to create a design narrative that reshapes all of those things. What interests him is the relationship between people and objects, and his goal when creating products is to alter user perceptions. For Thomas, a new product is not an end, but a beginning—an opportunity for someone to experience some part of the world in an entirely new way.

His iconic and futuristic work has been featured in museums, books and been widely recognized around the world. His Surfboards where part of the National Design Triennial a the Cooper Hewitt and the California Biennial and he has been featured in both the The Surfers journal and The New York Times.

Biography Pdf

Selected Projects

Apple
Black Diamond
Cappellini
Chumby
Danese
Danger
Flow
NEC
Neil Pryde
Nike
Orrefors
Porsche
Scott
Smith
SCA
Sony Ericsson
The North Face
Vulcan
WikiReader

Awards

Press

METROPOLIS
A seamless Experience.
August, 2010. Words By Kristi Cameron
Read PDF

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE.
The 9th Annual Year in Ideas.
December 14, 2009. Words by Jesse Ashlock.
Read PDF

I.D. MAGAZINE
Ahead of the Curve
October 2009. Words by Allan Weisbecker
Read PDF

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Going Beyond the Waves to Reshape Surfing
July 14, 2009
Read PDF

OUTSIDE MAGAZINE.
The Creator.
September 2008. Words By John Bradley
Read PDF

DRIFT
April 2010. Words by Chris Stevens
Read PDF

The Surfer Journal.
Feeling vs. Decimal Dust.
Number Two, 2007. Words By Scott Hulet
Read PDF

Business Week
Even After Apple, Designers Dig Jobs. June 2007.
Read PDF

Partial List

Metropolis Magazine. Seamless. SCA paper Dispensers, July 2010 Download Pdf
Drift Surfing, Peanuts, April 2010 Download Pdf
The New York Times Magazine, The 9th Annual Year in Ideas, December 2009 Download Pdf
The New York Times, Going Beyond The Waves to Reshape Surfing. Download Pdf
Gizmodo, "Riding a Surfboard Made By An Old Apple Designer" September 2009. Link
I.D. Magazine, "Ahead of the curve" August/September. 2009. Download pdf
Transworld Business, October 2009. Link
The Surfers Journal, "Feeling vs. Decimal Dust." Number Two. 2007.Download pdf
Men's journal, Perfect Things
Outside Magazine, The Creator. September 2008. Download pdf Business Week, Apples All-Star Alumni
Domus Magazine, Italy, Long Surfing
ModArt, Wave Forms
Wired, Technothrone
Design Impact, Art Center book
Surface Magazine, Generator
Italian Vouge
Who's who in design
International Design Year book
Blobjects & Beyond
Domus, Apple eMAte
Spoon, Phaidon

Awards

Australian International Design Award "Meyerhoffer Surfboard" 2010
D&Ad Awards Silver "Meyerhoffer Surfboard" 2010
I.D. Magazine, Best of Category, "Meyerhoffer Surfboards" 2010
IDEA Award, Gold, "Meyerhoffer Surfboards" 2010
IF Design Awards "SCA/Tork Paper Dispenser"2009
Red Dot Design Awards "SCA/Tork Paper Dispensers"2009
IF Design Awards"Flow Snowboarding Binding" 2003
Red Dot Design Awards "Flow Snowboarding Binding"2003
IF Design Awards "Neil Pryde Windsurfing Sails" 2003
Red Dot Design Awards "Neil Pryde Windsurfing Sails"2003
Wired RAVE Awards "Danger HipTop" 2003
I.D. Magazine, Best of Category "Apple eMate" 1997
IF Design Awards "Apple eMate" 1997
Good Design "Apple eMate" 1997
IDEA Award, Silver, "Apple eMate" 1997
D&Ad Awards, Yellow Pencil, "Apple eMate" 1997
D&Ad Awards, Yellow Pencil, "Nec Monitor" 1997

Selected Exhibitions & Events

TechnoCRAFT Yerba Buena Center for the Arts San Francisco, 2010
Shapers Night Noosa Surf Festival, 2010
The California Design Biennial Pasadena, California, 2007
The National Design Triennial Cooper Hewitt National Museum, New York, 2006
Blobobjects and Beyond San Jose Museum 2005
Future Design Days Stockholm, Sweden 2005
Die Neue Sammlung "New Scandinavia" 2000
SF MOMA Permanent Collection Apple eMAte
Beyond the Hype "Scandinavian Design"