Do you know how much fricking space baby gear takes up? I can speak from experience: Fitting all of it into a small New York apartment is a design problem and then some. Sandrine Lebas, Creative Director at KUMAR, must have experienced something like this, because she's created a godsend product called Koo -- a baby bassinet that transforms into a rocking chair.
Koo: Behind the Design from LUNAR on Vimeo.
The Koo may look flimsy, but Lebas went through several rounds of prototypes to perfect its origami-inspired design. When Junior starts screaming in the middle of the night for a feeding, just lift him out of the Koo and pop two snaps on the front panel, which folds down into a wide rocking chair that looks roomy enough for a nursing pillow. Lebas says that reducing a new family's carbon footprint was part of her goal with the Koo (fewer products=less waste). It's a nice thought, but the simple fact that a 2-in-1 product like this could be cheaper and less bulky than the alternative probably suffices for most rookie parents. If only it had a built-in refrigerator for storing bottles too -- we could be looking at Dyson-vacuum-level blockbuster potential here. Maybe something to think about for the next version, Sandrine?
COMMENTARY: That's what I call truly wonderful, simple and minimalist design for a rocking chair/bassinet combination. I have a feeling that young mothers everywhere will be buying the Koo.
Courtesy of an article dated August 12, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
where can you buy one of these?
Posted by: julie | 08/14/2011 at 11:24 PM