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.
I set off with this concept to create a model that carried this design but with two goals in mind - highlight the unique ring design and to keep the proportions. Originally I wanted to make this model as a full aluminum yoyo but I quickly realized that going back to developing a Ti-7068 would just make it perform a lot better. This decision made the second part much more difficult - keeping the proportions.
As mentioned, Magnesium is super light, so the large chunky rims would make a yoyo like this way too heavy. I played around with the diameter slightly going for a more conventional 56mm size - but it was still not enough. The rim would become too thin and just looked like a generic yoyo from other available brands. I prototyped a few more and just didn’t find the proportions that good.
I developed the Fluid Print Dynamics Yoyos with holes back in 2014. I would 3D print yoyos with actual holes in them and see them before I started Luftverk. This thought popped into my head as an option to create a super thick chunky rim and just machine a hole inside.
You can see the cross section here. The Hole looks pretty significant but I can assure you the body has plenty of power.
In hindsight it is essentially a capped yoyo with such a big pocket of air. The ring sits beautifully flush so no one would actually know. With this pocket it feels slightly less rim weighted and actually plays similar to a yoyo with a double wall feature. The concave meniscus is highlighted with the parting of the machined titanium ring and the aluminum body.
The unique blue I chose took some trial and error but the green is directly lifted from the R34 Skyline “Millennium Jade” which I have also run in titanium before. Only a few of the silver and raw ones were made as A Grade - so I expect those will be the first to sell out.
The example shown here of the “Millennium Jade” which was first featured on a Triple Zero back in 2017. Blow is a nice comparison shot of the blasted AKURA vs the raw uncoated aluminum one:
Overall this was a pretty simple fun project of mine so I apologize if this blog is a bit short - Luckily somehow avoided any manufacturing hiccups. It has been a while since I have created a yoyo with this brutalist design language - something I think that has been missing in the recent years. I also wanted something I could work on while taking a break between the last plastic release and the Christmas season. To everyone thank you for your continued support. Crazy to think next year will be 10 years of Luftverk…
AKURA TI-7068 will be available on September 29th, 2024 10:00pm EST. AKURA TI-7068
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.
Its wild to think that the Fulvia design is now 8 years old - originally released in 2016. This design was developed in titanium with the pursuit of rim weight and stability. So much has changed since then. 2024 was an interesting year with the challenges of moving to a new country while maintaining releases. Not many people realize but I often prototype yoyos for myself and they just never get released. Often they join the rotation of throws I have on the shelf, which never make it to production. The monometal 000 and Fulvia was exactly that - prototypes that I submited earlier this year that just never ended up making it to production.
Jeffrey Pang
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