I left West coast Canada in December but only temporarily - I left most of my stuff there. Moved back home with the parents for a bit after the start up I was working for went under - I saw it coming though, and it was a crazy well timed event that landed me back home. The slowness of releases in 2019 were a good indication of how busy I was, but also trying not to force creativity when my mood isn't the best. A few issues cropped up when I left Vancouver, mostly my deteriorating mental health. More often than not my projects become ways to cope with how I feel weather its cars or coding or doing yoyo releases.
in the 2020 year, there is one thing I would like to focus more on which is to collaborate with more people on releases. Creating with someone else is such a genuinely gratifying feeling. I think I am in a very fortunate position where I have a brand power and an amazing fan base where I can display others creativity in the most ultimate platform - in titanium. When I released the Daytona almost 3 years ago, it was my take on a pocket throw that had elements of old school feel. This was me making an educated guess at the things I liked - not by someone who actually was a skilled responsive player. I finally had the idea to reach out to Ed Haponik for advice - someone I've looked up to for a while. His dedication to responsive play and passion for old school yoyos made him the perfect candidate to brain pick and get some real information on how the original Daytona could be improved.
Shown above are the comparison between the original Daytonaand the Daytona SB Highwall. The biggest and most challenging change was the switch to small bearing. This generally helped (In my opinion) with shoot the moons and regens because of the kick back. Ed digged the Core Co pads which are used in some of the best playing slimlines made in the recent years. They remind me of old style Dif-e-yo pads, but fit for small bearings. Other changes were a higher wall that I found added stability and stalled flip tricks. Because the pads are taller the walls are inherently taller as well. The entire body is lighter by 3 grams which is a lot, and definitely makes this yoyo way more responsive focused then the original Daytona.
After the chats with Ed, the rest of the styling and shape was up to me, borrowing the hub from the Alpina with an updated retro engraving. The profile changed organically by itself after the added highwall, which still remains comfortable when snapping back into your hand. The small bearing definitely gives it a very unique feel. The weight also makes it less intimidating and hefty then the original Daytona.
Im happy with how this all turned out - kicking off 2020 with a small passion project with only 25 available. This will likely represent a turning point in Luftverk where releases will be limited and I will try to work with people on more collaborative projects. Its hard to believe its been 5 years since I released the first yoyo, I think I would like to be more selective in what I release and making sure its something genuinely special. Thanks everyone, especially Ed who helped make this mini - colab possible. I sent him one already as a gift, go bug him if you want to find out how it plays.
The Daytona SB Highwall Silimline will drop Sunday January 19th, 10pm EST time.
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
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