Earlier this summer GMC invited us out to Santa Barbara, CA for a unique adventure. We arrived at an airfield housing Cary Grant’s old plane and were met by a gleaming fleet of Airstream trailers. The…
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If glamorous camping is “glamping,” does that make designer camping “damping?” Whatever you call the pristine, outdoors-inspired objects in “Off the Grid”—the collaboration between designer François Chambard of UM…
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Spring has been slow to emerge for much of the world, but longer and slightly sunnier days are starting to spark the urge to play outside. Whether you’re itching to bike, boat, picnic or party in the open air, we’ve got gifts for you and yours to enjoy it all…
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As a follow-up to the compact, safe and efficient CampStove, BioLite has made open-air cooking even easier with its new Portable Grill. Circumventing the dangerous hazards of open-wood fires—not to mention having to use liquid fuel or batteries—the CampStove’s ingenious design was developed a few years ago by founders…
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Whether you spend your spare time in the great outdoors or exploring the city, a lightweight, waterproof jacket is a staple this time of year. A standout among the masses of Gore-Tex and Thinsulate out there is the Focus LT Hoody from Westcomb, a company known for melding sleek…
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Specializing in designing lighting solutions, design group Luminair recently unveiled their first shelters, fantastical suspended Tree Tents. The product of three years’ work, Tree Tents provide an intriguing model for sustainable wildlife housing that enables a non-invasive solution for campers and forest service personnel. In fulfilling childhood fantasies and…
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It would appear that the way to lead with light might soon be by way of crutch – at least that’s how the designers behind the Leader would have it. The full name of these devices is “Leader Outdoor Crutches” and their designers, Cathy Wen and Linxi Lee, have made it clear that there will be no more darkness on the trail as long as they’re at the head of the pack.
Leader Outdoor Crutches aim to not just allow you to make your way through the woods with that extra bit of push up on the stick, but with some much-needed illumination at night as well. Just pop in the lamp and you’ll be headed to your camp site in no time. This invention would certainly save us some stumble time heading up the stairs after some late-night laundry too, mind you – perhaps a home edition is in order!
Designers: Cathy Wen and Linxi Lee
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(Crutch as a lamp held aloft was originally posted on Yanko Design)
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Our interview with Jordan Hufnagel on building camping supplies and the story behind his new brand
There comes a time in many peoples’ lives when things just seem to be moving too fast, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. This overwhelmed feeling spurred Portland-based bicycle builder Jordan Hufnagel and motorcycle maker James Crowe to start the adventure outfitter brand West America. A passion project for the two, West America makes handmade camping supplies and apparel capturing the free spirit that brought the brand to life.
While the product line itself is fairly basic, the story behind West America is a rich one filled with countless stories of friendship and travel with a genuine, pioneering spirit. To learn more about the young brand, we recently caught up with Hufnagel before his upcoming motorcycle trip for which the brand was formed.
West America is about that constant evolution that we all go through, and being true to ourselves. It’s about not being scared of the changes you want in your life and working hard to make them happen. A couple years ago James and I found ourselves buried in a mountain of work that only seemed to keep growing, while not getting us any closer to the lives we really wanted. After some big challenges were overcome and some rough conversations between the two of us, we committed to making those changes and somewhere along the line we thought up West America.
West America makes whatever James and I are stoked on at the time—currently that means a small line of camping gear, and paraphernalia—while simultaneously creating an outlet for James and me to document our work, good times and travels.
We both make the camping gear. James and I really yin each other’s yang here in the shop, so working together designing and making things works out great.
It all happens very naturally around here. Having a full metal shop, we have the privilege to make the things we want exactly how we want them. We are going to be on the road a long time, camping most of the nights. So we wanted gear that was going to pack easy in our limited space, but also create comfort. After bouncing around some ideas of what we wanted to make, we landed on these items to start.
At this point we’re just scratching some sketches out as ideas pop in our heads and showing them to each other to get feedback and make refinements to the plan. Then one of us will make a prototype that we can beat up and get a feel for. Sometimes one prototype is all that happens and the product gets dumped. But, if we’re happy with what we’ve come up with we’ll make some final repeatable plans, order materials and will work together producing a limited run.
We started planning this motorcycle trip to South America a couple years ago when we made that commitment to change and started thinking up West America. Like I said earlier, we had found ourselves buried in work. Me with bicycle orders and James with three different and very important full-time gigs. I was spending every waking hour at the shop and going a little crazy. I felt like I’d been stripped of the privilege to act on my spontaneous nature, and also had this huge drive to be doing more than one thing with my life. At the same time, James was being pulled in every direction too. Between our shop, a hot rod shop he worked at that was sponsoring his green card application, and having to be in school full time to maintain a visa here in the US (he’s Canadian) he had no time to do anything besides work. Only sleeping a couple hours a night, things came to a tipping point.
At the time, I wanted to move away from Portland. The only thing keeping me here was sharing a shop with James. He’s my best friend and ultimate shop partner. But life here was beating him down pretty hard and it looked like a move back to Canada was just around the corner, so I also felt like there was no reason to stay. It honestly was a pretty crazy emotional time. Then real late one night at the shop, we just broke it all down and committed to making this trip happen. Leaving all the stress behind and going off to have the awesome journey. You know, just hit the reset button and find out who we really are with out all the expectations and stress again. Now here we are a couple months from going. It’s a crazy feeling, knowing that it’s happening so soon.
Totally. For the trip south our only plan is going, and letting the rest just take shape on its own. West America is the same. We just want it to be whatever we are into at that time, or whatever we want to make. Right now, it’s camping and motorcycles. At some point we both want to build homes and I can totally see us making house wares as we want them, or bike stuff, or backpacking gear. You know, whatever is rocking us at the time. Also, I think it’s important to keep in mind here that destinations are just a part of a journey, not the reason for them.
We have a few other things in the works, but we also have tons of work to finish up before we take off so we’ll see what happens!
Keep an eye on West America to stay up with the product development and the eventual documentation of Hufnagel and Crowe’s South American adventure.
Three ultralight accessories for improving life on the trail
When trekking hundreds of miles even the slightest reduction in carry weight can increase efficiency and longevity on the trail. In the ongoing effort to minimize pack impact many companies have begun experimenting with new materials unconventional to the outdoor industry. From fibers stronger than steel to space-grade titanium, the following three items innovate ultra-lightweight construction guaranteed to ease your load.
As the name implies, Hyperlite Mountain Gear makes tents and gear bags that are lighter than anything else on the market. Much like Outlier‘s Minimal Backpack released last winter, the Summit Pack from HMG is constructed entirely of a cuben fiber—a flexible non-woven laminate made from a super tough polyethylene that’s up to 15 times stronger than steel and up to 40% stronger than kevlar—and polyester blend. To improve on the ultra sleek design, HMG added two daisy chains and an adjustable bungie cord for attaching more gear. Almost entirely waterproof, sturdy enough for an overnight trek and weighing an unreal 10.7oz, the Summit Pack sells directly from HMG for $148.
Similarly constructed with cuben fiber, the two-person Mojo UFO tent weighs in at just under two pounds and reportedly can be pitched in a matter of minutes. As an update on the nylon Mojo 2 tent, this space-age structure relies on just three carbon fiber poles to hold it up and off the ground. The rain fly is also built in to even further reduce weight. While the technology is undeniable, the element-resistant cuben fiber fabric comes at a hefty price. Sierra Designs expects to sell the Mojo UFO for roughy $1,800 next season.
With a design inspired by old time flat-pack balsa wood airplanes, The Summit collapsible grill can be constructed with just four sides and a handful of slats that double as cooking skewers. Precision-laser-cut from single sheets of titanium and hard-anodized to add strength and durability, the American-made grill measures just 9″ x 9″ x 4″ when constructed—not bad for a fully functioning cooking surface that packs down to just over a few inches in profile. Visit Slat Grills online where the titanium Summit sells for $214.
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