Posts Tagged ‘quirky process’

• Mon, Jul 5 2010

  Of Coffee And Moonshine

  By shirley at 12:06 pm

  

  At the risk of seeming coffee-obsessed (too late?), I’d like to introduce the latest brewing machine to perk me up: the Kyoto slow-dripper. Building on principles of distillation and a ritualized mindset towards food and drink, the Japanese created an intense coffee filtration process which lasts anywhere from 12 to 20 hours per batch. The typical slow-dripper filters one drop every two seconds. The result of this agonizingly long wait is an intense, concentrated brew with layers of flavor and a strong caffeine kick.

  So what is it about distillation that produces such a powerful result? The act of distillation refines and refines, getting closer to the pure essence of a substance as impurities are filtered out. The result of this single-minded focus could be viewed as the pure heart of whatever substance has survived this labor intensive process.

  While the buzz you’d get from a strong cuppa joe or a swig of bathtub gin are different from the buzz you get from participating in product development (or not?), there is a common thread. At times, following the development of an eagerly awaited product on Quirky feels like watching each precious drop of coffee or moonshine collect, waiting for the day when the process is complete. Whenever we complete a new product though, hallelujah! We know we’ve captured the essence of something great.

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  • Tags:
  • coffee,
  • distillation,
  • quirky process
• Thu, Apr 29 2010

  Why Aren’t Projects Visible And Accessible Right Away?

  By nikki at 3:23 pm

  Hey Quirks,

  As some of you have noticed, there is sometimes a short lag time between when one project ends and the next one is launched. We know you are curious as to why this might be so I figured it was time to share some insight.

  I can assure you it’s not because we are out to lunch or taking coffee breaks (unfortunately we don’t really take many of those while at the HQ) but it is simply because we are reviewing/discussing ALL the submissions and community votes/comments to ensure we make the best decision for each and every project.

  Please bear with us if you see these slight delays. We promise that we’ll be selecting the winner(s) as soon as we can.

  Also, one thing we will work toward doing in the future (and you can see that we have started it for the Gym Carry naming project) is updating you with a current design brief after the ID phase is over.

  In other words, after the ID phase has ended and winner(s) are selected, we will do our best to add descriptive briefs to the project desciption boxes when projects launch. We will include info like:

  – Here is what we currently know about the industrial design of this product.

  – Here is what we are still investigating about the industrial design of this product.

  – And here is what we need from you all in the mean time.

  Often the “here is what we need” will be your brilliant naming suggestions, but in some cases it might be a different project, maybe ID round 2, maybe product research round 2, etc.

  Bottom lines:

  1. Trust that we are working to move projects along as fast as we can – there is a lot that goes into every decision.

  2. We will do our very best to inform the community of our current “design briefs” so that you can use this info when submitting your names/taglines/logos.

  We think this will work to help you all in your submissions and in turn help our products be even more awesome.

  As always, hit us up with questions about any of this and we will continue to do our best to move projects along as speedily as possible!

  On an unrelated note, how sad? Double scoop of gelato slid right off my cone last night after lick 1.

  

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  • Tags:
  • design briefs,
  • projects,
  • quirky process