I start my new job as a software developer tomorrow. That's probably the weirdest most unsuspecting thing to come out of 2018. Every year I attempt to guess where I will be at the end of the next year. Most of the time its in a different city, or country. But starting a brand new career path is definitely a massive curveball.
Around 3 months ago I came to Vancouver pretty lost. I ended up meeting a lot of new friends through the city but man is it expensive here. I figured doing the whole yoyo thing would work well when I was living at home with my parents in Toronto but moving to the most expensi ve city in Canada also meant that I would need to do something during the day. I thought about just getting a simple job at a coffee shop and doing Luftverk on the side. I worked at an automotive shop rebuilding motors for a few months in the beginning, but I quickly realized I wanted to keep that as a hobby instead of a job. I felt like the pressure was on to find some sort of job, I just didn't know what. But A few of my friends mentioned they took a course to learn web development and that really caught my attention. I thought that would be interesting since I did some coding before back in my engineering days. So I took it more seriously, and the more I looked into it, the more I thought of it as an opportunity to start another path in life.
The course I ended up taking was laid out as a two and a half month hyper-condensed study period. This was one of the huge reasons for dropping off the map in the yoyo world and not releasing anything. Essentially you started at 9am, and left when you got the assignments done, which sometimes ended up stretching until 11pm. This was 6 days a week which, looking back at it, was so much work but also effectively does drill the knowledge into your brain.
I was really lucky to have some savings to pour myself into this program while still supporting myself in Vancouver. I met so many new friends there - the culture was very supportive. Finding a job was more about networking with friends met through the program. The company sent me a pretty indepth programming challenge. They seemed to like what I delivered and they hired me last week. I am just excited to try something out of my comfort zone and learn new technologies.
Going into a full time job means a few things for Luftverk too - and hopefully better things. I always looked at it as a side project that I've been blessed to have the support of all you guys with. But the past few releases were far more stressful now that I am not living at home or bumming around Europe. I was so stressed about if products would move, or what would you guys as customers want, instead of trying new things, and taking bigger risks. Things like the Fulvia project in early 2017 was such high risk - I want to be able to do that more in the future. With a full time job supporting myself, I will be able to once again try out the weird designs that I am afraid of, and not worry as much about the astronomically high prices of titanium prototyping. In summary, I can stress less about "what sells" and focus more on "what I want to design". I can also take more time between releases, or even focus on bigger pictures like getting titanium yoyos into retailers more. Made in Canada titanium has always been in the back of my mind... maybe I can finally make it happen?
I have to thank everyone who has given me love and support during the past few months. Even some customers personally messaged me words of encouragement to get through the hard times. That meant the world to me. I wouldn't even have had the opportunity to take that course while living on my own if no one bought the Raw 000. So really these opportunities that I am given are spawned from your people's generosity and willingness to keep supporting the brand. But that's enough about what's going on with me - because the new 000 finishes are absolutely stunning.
If you have experienced anodized titanium, you need no introduction to their incredibly iridescent color-shifting properties. The pink is a darker version of the pink that was on the CLYW x LFVK Tundras. It flip-flops from Pink to a gold color in bright sunlight. You can actually even make it out in the photos. Its the same story with the Root Beer color as well.
I also decided to include a small batch of each AMS2488 and Ultra-Matte. To refresh you, AMS2488 is the coating available as an anti-gualling agent in many military and medical machined parts. This means its very hard, and slippery - almost like a teflon. Contrasting to Ultra-Matte which feels much more like a chalkboard texture. Still very grind friendly, but the unique properties of this finish is that it develops its own patina as time goes on. The surface is slightly absorbant to anything that is around it - including oils in the hands. But looking at the photos its incredible how matte it really is, it looks like it's carved out from a chunk of concrete or something. Fits the minimalist design language very well.
Keeping the super minimalist design going, the logo is lightly etched into the surface with the anodizing applied afterwards. This gives it an almost ghost of a logo - you can only see it or feel it if you really look for it. I love how simple and clean it looks. I find branding to be very distracting to the design of a yoyo that has lines like this, but of course that is my own opinion. Either way it turned out excellent.
What an insane year. I think looking back it's been one of the harder years for sure. Nearly all aspects of my life was unexpectedly flipped around but I am very excited for new opportunities. But here's to a new year and new memories! Thank you everyone!
These will drop on Thursday December 13th 10PM EST at www.luftverk.com
It has been nearly 4 months since Ive been in Japan, and 5 months since I left Toronto. Writing that out makes it feel short but in reality it feels like forever ago. The last launch of the Plastic Peak was an overwhelming experience. I felt so grateful to work with CLYW, a company I grew up with. When the World Yoyo Contest hit I didn't know what to expect, but I had started noticing a feeling of burn out after grinding out so many yoyo related projects and in a weird introverted way I was a bit reluctant to go.
CLYW is a Canadian brand that started in 2006. I was 14 at the time when I watched this new brand unfold on the Yoyonation forums. They released their first yoyo named the "Peak" with 50 pieces retailing for $85. Today, that yoyo has used asking prices north of $2500 making it one of the most insanely rare and expensive yoyos to date. This "OG Painted Peak" featured a custom painted surface by a Canadian airbrush artist named Levi. Overtime as the Peak was impacted or dinged, the paint would chip off meaning there are only a handful of units in the world that survived in mint unused condition. Later versions would be released in more durable anodized finishes, but these first 50 "OG Painted Peaks"cemented CLYW into yoyoing history.
This one will interesting - since mine and Augie's relationship go a far distance back. Its also kind of a weird story of how like minded free sprits will seemingly eventually cross roads no matter how unlikely that is.
Growing up in what I like to call the golden area of competitive yoyoing I was blessed to be inspired by yoyoers with so much unique style. These players helped me stay hooked in yoyoing and I often wonder if I would have even stuck with it without them. Players like Yuuki Spenser, John Ando, Eric Koloski, Paul Han, Shinji Saito and of course Augie Fash were some of my favourites. Before there was a yoyo "meta" all these yoyoers had their own 1A style which is why I think fondly of this era.
Keeping the super minimalist design going, the logo is lightly etched into the surface with the anodizing applied afterwards. This gives it an almost ghost of a logo - you can only see it or feel it if you really look for it. I love how simple and clean it looks. I find branding to be very distracting to the design of a yoyo that has lines like this, but of course that is my own opinion. Either way it turned out excellent. 
Jeffrey Pang
Author