Kramade, a project that supports young product designers
08 / 03 / 2018
Koldobika Goikoetxea, engineer and industrial designer with an entrepreneurial spirit, cofounded his first start-up company, The Social Coin, in 2013 and since then has not stopped getting involved in high added-value projects, both with young entrepreneurs and companies. He is the founder of Kramade, a project that was started at the beginning of 2016, driven by a group of product design students that tried to make their own projects come true from the university. They failed when they experienced the difficulties involved in the entire process, from manufacturing to distribution.
The aim of Kramade is to help young product designers by going hand in hand with them in the launch of their creations onto the market. Kramade provides support and a follow-up in the development, manufacturing and launching stages. It offers a digital environment in which the designer can follow a customized process while managing the development of his/her new product with guarantees; the process allows designers to be accompanied and well advised by professionals at all times.
The functioning is very simple, the designer uploads the project to the platform. He/she then receives a customized analysis carried out by Kramade’s professionals. Based on this analysis, it is then possible to plan a roadmap and follow a specific working method, with the final goal of launching the product onto the market.
Kramade is currently working on various projects in different stages and fields but mainly focused on issues related to energy, recycling, and wellbeing. The intention is that the products offer an additional added value and solve real social problems. It also seeks to propose proximity manufacturing, thus involving local productive units and fostering industrial collaboration.
One of the most successful projects supported by Kramade has been Soo Sensitive, the first product to give massages with essential oils able to contain, dose and help the massage by adapting to the different shapes of the human body. Designed by Gemma Izumi, this product was launched on the market, financed thanks to a crowdfunding campaign and to the collaboration of Alquimia. Soo has been handmade, taking the utmost care in the details, with local craftsmen and materials. It was presented in different trade fairs such as the Design Week in Milan and it has arrived in the Japanese market.
Kramade’s short-term goal is to promote projects with a high added value, with the collaboration of experts, companies, and investors. A platform with a double functionality has been created: to allow the matching of projects and (companies’) interests and to offer a virtual environment where designers can follow an efficient methodology and which also supports them in the different stages to successfully launch their project.
Koldobika was the winner of the 2013 Spanish edition of the One Day Design Challenge. His project The Water Circle, developed along with Eloi Bellart and Iván Pajares, received the award of the jury for its didactic approach to the natural cycle of water, whose aim was to teach children the values of sustainability while showing them as well the importance of personal hygiene.