So here we are - what you, and I have been waiting for for a long time. All the pictures, all the flights. The shipping delays and hours spent on the details. It all comes together with the final and arguably the most important aspect of any high end product. The finish - the visual eye candy that draws you closer. I often ask myself what a product would look like if money was not a deciding factor. And the Octavia demands the highest of quality.
Anodized in the USA from a company who dedicates most of its time to the medical and military world, the quality and consistency is an absolute treat. Both the Navy and Bronze are deep - rich in color with a certain depth that you can not experience with anything made from aluminum.
Returning again is the ultra limited AMS2488 Type II (Grey). Only the AMS2488 will include both the Full Ceramic bearing, the NSK Platinum as well as white CBC pads and HS pads.
As usual, you can see how the titanium finish reacts to the natural oils on your fingers. One wipe with a clean cloth removes the swirls and finger prints that you can paint on the finish. The thin layer of oil cause the titanium to refract light in a strange way - creating this beautiful iridescence that people who purchased the Evora raved about. Its truly something you need to experience in person.
There will be 30 Navy, and 30 Bronze Octavias available. 10 AMS2488, at a higher price. All numbered with certificates. The release will be interesting to say the least considering the Evora sold out in just 3 and a bit hours. To battle the insanity, I will be doing the release slightly differently. There will be a "North American" release time, and a "European" release time.
The release will be split in half. The initial release will be in a time convenient to most people in North America. Regardless if they sell out or not, the remaining half of the stock will be added 6 hours later, which will be more convenient to Europeans. So Europeans have a better chance this time around - and if an American misses out on the initial release they can pull an all nighter and try again. Europeans will likely be less fatigued so beware.
So that is a wrap. 3/3 done. One thing I will leave you with is a release date: Sunday, December 6th. I will finalize everything with the exact NA and EU times on Facebook. And last but not least your beloved specs.
It has been a year an a half living in Osaka, crazy how time flies. I remember releasing the Plastic Fulvia just before leaving Toronto, a product that I could argue changed the trajectory of everything. At that moment, Luftverk grew exponentially, with the support of retailers around the world. At that moment, I developed so many behind the scenes processes for management that it became much more of a corporate job then a creative one. Huge projects like Cheatcode, and the CLYW collaboration definitely had its creative sides dont get me wrong, but the addition of moving to a foreign city, learning a new language, pursuing motorsports and delegating tasks behind the scenes with razor sharp margins meant for a lot of it I was on the brink of burnout. I questioned if I even still liked doing yoyo stuff at all, or if it was just to keep food on the table.
Crazy to think it has been 2 years since the original release of the Plastic Fulvia and Plastic 000. Both models as of now are pretty much sold out everywhere, and I knew it was about time to update both with a small batch of new colors as well as fix a few small issues with the first designs. I appreciate everyone who has reached out anticipating a restock of these - as the manufacturing process is very timely for sure so restocks can't happen as quick as I'd like.
In January, I released the AKURA MG, a yoyo made from Magnesium. This material has a very low density and I talked about how it performs more like a plastic than anything else. But what made that yoyo really special is the aesthetic. I loved the lines on that yoyo. The proportions with the chunky rims were just perfect. One of the biggest aesthetic challenges though were that after the ceramic coating the lines were quite subtle which hid the design.
Jeffrey Pang
Author