Whoever knew that origami and transport were such good friends? The art of folding offers a dynamic solution for on-the-go city dwellers with limited space. One such offering is the Oru Kayak -- a rigid, fully functioning kayak that folds up to form its own carry case.
(CNN) -- Origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, is believed to date back as far as the 17th century. Traditionally done with a single sheet of paper, its elegant principles have come to influence package design, mathematics and -- more recently -- an unusual new folding kayak.
The Oru kayak is the brainchild of Californian designer Anton Willis. Made from a sheet of plastic (polyethelyne), the entire boat, including paddle, folds down to the size of a large suitcase. While it may not be practical to carry long distances, it can fit into the trunk of a car and be has been designed to be able to be stored in a home closet.
Willis says he was inspired by an article on "advances in the science of origami," which led him to begin sketching ideas for a folding kayak.
Read: Earthquake-proof table uses geometry to save lives
"I started working on this a few years ago and I moved into a studio apartment in San Francisco and had to put my kayak in storage. And at the same time I read this magazine article on origami and people doing new and amazing things with folding technologies and that just got me thinking about if it would be possible to actually build a kayak and fold it up just like a piece of paper," Willis says.
The Oru kayak is made from a double-layered plastic scored with permanently molded creases to allow it to easily fold away. Its single seam sits at the top of the boat and is sealed with watertight rubber gaskets to prevent leaks. Once unfolded, the Oru Kayak is 12-feet long, and about two-feet wide. When folded away it comes to a relatively compact 33 inches by 29 inches.
To gain enough money to get started, Willis began by mounting a crowd-funding campaign. The campaign was so successful that his funding target was met within the first day: "When we Kickstarted our campaign, our goal was to raise $80,000, but we managed to hit that goal in five and a half hours. It was a very magical day."
Origami-inspired kayak unfolds from box
Read: Off-road wheelchair offers freedom for disabled poor
Yves Behar, Chief Creative Officer of the wearable technology company Jawbone, says "I think the kayak is a very ambitious project. I mean, imagine essentially taking a boat and folding it into a backpack ... You have all the dangers of the sea. People are putting themselves out into your kayak, so it's very risky."
But Behar says that the best test of a product's success is whether or not it sells: "I think the product works. It is selling, and it's comfortable (but) the challenge for me is: how big is the kayak market? How big is it as an industry?"
Read: The laser light that could cut cyclist deaths
Other folding vehicles have met with differing levels of success. The Brompton folding bicycle has been popular with inner city commuters around the world since its invention in 1979. The folding Razor scooter enjoyed a period of booming success around the beginning of the millennium, but since then sales have diminished. The ICON folding airplane now hopes to "reinvent flying" with its modest scale and low price. And the MIT-backed Hiriko folding car was unveiled in March at the Geneva Motor Show, with production scheduled to begin later this year.
Good design, Behar says, is about ensuring that a product is in line with contemporary thinking and consumer demand: "The key to good design for me is to create products that are really in sync with 21st-century ideas, in sync with the notion that sustainability is something that is obtainable and non-expensive, in sync with the notion that people want to make things their own, to build them or enjoy them in their own way."
Like foldaway, perhaps.
Monique Rivalland contributed to this article
When designer Anton Willis moved from the country to a small apartment in San Francisco he had to put his beloved kayak into storage. Soon after moving he began sketching ideas for a kayak that could be folded up and kept in a closet. After reading about advancements in origami, he put his ideas into practice. Twenty prototypes later the Oru Kayak was born.
Love water travel but can't store a boat? Say hello to the flat-pack boat. Invented by lovers of London's canals, Arno Mathies and Max Frommeld, the boat is made from one sheet of plastic that folds up with its cushions and oars into a portable parcel you can throw in your trunk.
OK so maybe "space-mobile" is a little misleading. This vehicle isn't from Mars -- it's a car that folds up to fit into the teeniest of tiny spaces. A two-seat urban electric car developed by the MIT Media Lab, CityCar retracts to bring its wheels closer together, and in doing so helps reduce parking problems in urban environments.
There are dozens of foldable bikes on the market these days, as more and more urbanites jump on the cycling bandwagon. Lugging your bike on trains and buses used to be a drag, but with foldable bikes like the Bromptons on display here, you have no excuse any more.
A scooter you can pull along as a suitcase? Now there's a novel idea. The Moveo electric moped from Hungary folds in the middle so you can take it on the train or in the car before zipping around the city. And with a soft leather seat it doesn't scrimp on comfort...
We've all folded a paper plane and watched with pride as it soars through the air. But what if the plane was a fully functioning full-sized aircraft? Well, the Icon A5 is exactly that. With folding wings, the airplane is compact enough to be stored in a garage and towed along the freeway.
Australian design student Jack Martinich has given the wheelchair a makeover. It not only looks like a product of the 21st century, but it behaves like one too. The Mobi chair has an automatic folding mechanism so it can easily be taken in and out of the car or stored at home when not in use.
It's an age old problem for the roaming surfer -- the cost of transporting your beloved board. Well, Walden Surfboards may just have a solution: the Tri-fold can be folded up into a suitcase and checked in like a normal piece of luggage. Hallelujah!
OK, so skateboards didn't really take up much room in the first place but it's kind of useful if you want to put it in a locker at work or school. Plus, its designers at the Snap Skateboard Company promise it won't jeopardize your tricks, dude!
Winner of the Design Museum London's Design of the Year 2013 transport category, the folding wheel was developed by British construction collective Vitamins. The wheels, which are to be used predominantly for wheelchairs, fold in such a way that they can easily be stored in the overhead locker on an airplane or in the trunk of a small car.
