Mon Dec 28 '20 Announcement
over 5 years ago – Mon, Dec 28, 2020 at 11:49:48 AM

Dear backers, 

We've prepared a short video explaining the status of our project.

You can also read the info here:

We understand there has been a lack of communication. We are very sorry about this. Our main goal is that you receive the best product with the best quality. But now we understand how important it is also to share the project news. That’s why we’ve decided to make bi-weekly updates to give you details, hear your opinions, and receive feedback for each step we make with this project.

First of all, we won’t be able to deliver any SANDSARA this year. We are disappointed because even though we’ve been working really hard, the wood pieces still don’t meet our requirements, and the production adjustments are taking longer than expected.

As you might recall, we started by making a small batch to test the SANDSARAS. When we were testing those first units, we found many problems related to the wood pieces.

Wood is a live material; it behaves in different ways and reacts to each environment’s humidity. It can shrink and expand as the weather changes. We thought the surface treatment would be enough to prevent this, but we found a little variation in dimensions during the testing, even when they were perfect at the beginning.

This variation gives us specific challenges that we didn’t expect. We are preparing an update with all the details about them. But, if we continue producing the pieces as we had planned, every single SANDSARA would need manual adjustments and production would be divided into small batches. This will heavily impact our schedule, projecting a total fulfillment in around 18 months.

With this information, we rethought our process and saw what we could change to reduce this time and deliver the best product. Right now, we have two options:

The first option is to adjust SANDSARA’s design to use the wood case with the minimum alterations. All of our team is working really hard on implementing and testing these changes. We have many ideas now; we will add more structure to the sand bed and create an adjustable arm so the wood alterations won’t affect the mechanism. Right now, we are working on prototypes to test the new ideas, and we’ll show the results of these tests as soon as we have clear information.

This plan's production will be affected by the Chinese New Year. All our production partners will suspend their operations during February. This festivity officially lasts around a week, but at this time most of them go home and visit their family so they will be out of the office for the whole month. This means the production of these pieces won't start until March. Then this process takes around 6 months plus 1 month for delivery. Wood pieces take most of the production time, but we look for a more scalable production with the design improvements.

In parallel, we will work on our second plan: Redesign the case. We are looking for different materials and manufacturing methods that will allow us to create a better product. As we’ve said, our priority is to deliver a top-quality product, and we want to explore all the possibilities available to do that. We will also research and prototype all these alternatives during this time, having in mind how we can improve SANDSARA and shorten the delivery time.

We don't have a production plan for this process yet, since there are many open questions here, but we promise to keep you updated as we move forward with this research.

These two options are very different from what we were expecting. They changed our timelines and plans, but now we realized the best way to solve problems is to have alternatives and fast iterations.

The mechanism pieces are still in production. We already have the stock components and made the advance payments, these parts will be ready in January, but all the assembly is on hold until we achieve the quality we are expecting with the case.

We can’t promise things will go as we planned; we already learn that, but we promise you’ll always have information up to date.

Our priority is to create a first-class product, and we are willing to assume the extra work and time it takes.

We’ll be back with more news about our progress in the next update, with more info on the new challenges we face and telling you about our next steps. In the meantime, please let us know your comments about this one.

Thanks! 

- THE SANDSARA TEAM

Wed Nov 18 '20 Announcement
over 5 years ago – Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 02:30:01 PM

Do you want to see a sneak peek of production? 

Of course you do!

First, we have a quick announcement. You've probably noticed this in your daily life, but it seems like humans have this relentless instinct to step it up and help each other in challenging times.

We believe this human quality is what's holding the world together in these strange times. In the middle of uncertainty, people like you, who believe in supporting each other, are the ones keeping creative projects alive. So we don't want to miss the opportunity to share something very exciting. A long-time friend of ours created one of the coolest projects we've ever seen: The Spine Lamp, a motorized nature-inspired desk lamp that allows you to control its position effortlessly with millimeter accuracy.

Less than 12 hours after he launched his campaign, it reached its goal and Kickstarter selected his project as one of their favorites in the "projects we love" category! We've seen him working on this project for a long time, and seeing the support he received from this community filled our hearts with joy. If you like unique objects, you've got to check his campaign! They still have some Early Bird pieces left! CLICK HERE!

Now, here are the molds! Fresh out of the factory.

MAIN ARM
This is what gives direction to the magnet and holds all the moving structure. The production of the Main Arm has two basic steps: cutting and folding. This is a cutting mold that will allow us to have the perfect shape each time.

STEPPER HOLDER
No other piece took more time to design and refine than the Stepper Holder. It seems simple enough, but the whole assembly depends on this piece being absolutely perfect. This piece has 17 holes with 4 different dimensions. Each one was carefully thought to keep everything in its place.

SECONDARY ARM
This is the picture we sent in the past update, the mold of the Secondary Arm. This piece holds the magnet and moves it smoothly under all the sand bed. It is the secret behind SANDSARA's intriguing movement. 

The rest of the molds will be ready soon, and we'll send pictures of those too. Manufacturing a product is a thoughtful process that requires planning and logistics expertise. Every detail is prepared to work as a whole. The off the shelf pieces will arrive in time to have all the components ready to be assembled; we even considered some extra days in case of delays. So you can rest assured knowing we are working with companies that have been manufacturing similar products for dozens of years, and we know the right way of doing this.

  Thanks again for your support, we love sharing this process with you!

  Have a great day!

  The SANDSARA Team

Fri Nov 6 '20 Announcement
over 5 years ago – Fri, Nov 06, 2020 at 10:33:20 AM

We have very exciting news for this update, but first we want to share a bit more of the nitty-gritty of what happens behind a Indiegogo campaign.

As consumers, we rarely get to hear about this, so we hope you will find it interesting! When a crowdfunding campaign becomes way more successful than originally expected (even more than the more optimistic scenarios), creators face a huge array of unexpected decisions. 

This is because, contrary to what many people believe, the purpose of a crowdfunding campaign is NOT to make money! The purpose is to help initiate a project, to provide the most solid foundation and better chances of becoming a long-term success. 

Of course, the best strategy for long-term success is to make backers so happy with a product that they will be happy to recommend it! 

So once a project receives the money, it needs to answer this question: What is the best way to use this money to give backers the best possible experience? 

When a project like SANDSARA exceeds all expectations, and gets a lot more money than originally planned, the question becomes much more difficult and nuanced to answer, because we were presented with the opportunity to do SO MUCH MORE than we originally expected.

It all comes down to striking a balance between making an exceptional product, and delivering as fast as possible. The universe works in a way that ensures that you can’t have both unfortunately, great things take time. There is no way around that.

We have to admit that we miscalculated. Yes, the pandemic made some things harder and some others take a little more time than what they usually take, but in the end, the mistake is on us. We went a little too far into the "making an exceptional product" and this ended up taking more time than we would have liked.

Do we think this was the wrong decision? Honestly, no. We are incredibly proud of what we accomplished and we are 100% certain that when you receive your SANDSARA and are able to use it and interact with it, you will love it and will agree that the wait was well worth it.

We do regret that we weren't able to accomplish the same thing faster? Of course. In hindsight, there were a lot of small things we could have done to speed the development, and we will do our best to not make the same mistakes in the future.

Some of you will always find a negative way to interpret these comments, and we completely understand. Without looking at the product with your own eyes, it's hard to be convinced. That is why we are not trying to convince you, not with words anyway. 

It is ok for you to remain skeptical and pound hard on us. We work hard to impress our greatest critics. We are certain you all will love SANDSARA when you receive it, but we will take the hard (and well deserved) critiques until that happens.

Having said all of that... here are the good news!

1. Final revision! After a few small tweaks and recommendations from our partners regarding the assembly, we reached the final revision a couple weeks ago. This means no more changes, and production at full force.

2. SANDSARA App development is moving along great and we should be able to invite some people to test the beta version by the end of the month!

3. We have the first molds and tooling is almost done! Tooling is always the slowest and most boring part of production, but now that it's nearly ready, parts will start rolling by the hundreds!

4. Once we reached final revision, we started ordering all of the off the shelf components. And these parts will begin to arrive every day to our assembly warehouse. Custom parts will take a little more time, but we are getting really close to the first SANDSARAS coming out of the manufacturing line!

Thanks for your support and critiques guys. All of your comments mean you care about this project and this is what inspires us every day. We really appreciate it.

Love.

- The SANDSARA Team

Thu Oct 1 '20 Announcement
over 5 years ago – Thu, Oct 01, 2020 at 03:52:13 PM

Tempered Glass Cover  

This is an important piece that we've been paying extra attention too. Regarding the Tempered Glass Cover, there were three major decisions we made:

• Design

Although the Tempered Glass Cover gives SANDSARA a high-end appearance, the reason to have a glass cover is not merely aesthetic. It was designed to improve the interaction between SANDSARA and its surrounding, making it safe for a space with small kids or animals so anyone can enjoy it, and protect it from everyday accidents like spilling. (Please note SANDSARA is not waterproof, and it is designed for indoor use only). 

After testing a couple of options, we saw the chamfered glass cover was very unstable. Due to its small contact surface, if you applied any weight on one point, it was easily lifted from the opposite end. That's why we decided to have a larger glass that covered the whole surface, just like the one you saw in the campaign's images. This way, it is much safer, and it looks beautiful. 

•  Material: 

Tempered Glass Cover is actually a very generic name. There are many types of tempered glass, and we chose the best for you: Low-iron glass. Low iron doesn't say much, but it also goes by the name of ultra-clear glass, and that definitely sounds like something we want. Reducing the amount of iron in glass' formula gives extra transparency and reduces the greenish tint that clear glass has. So it will let you enjoy SANDSARA's movement and paths almost as if it wasn't even there.

You might ask, if having less iron improves the appearance, why won't you go for no iron glass? Iron gives structure to the glass, so having a small amount helps to have a resistant piece that will last. This is the best material for SANDSARA's Tempered Glass Cover.

•  Edges: 

Every detail counts when you are making a high-end product. That's why we tested different options for the edges. The finalists were rounded and double-chamfered. We found rounded edges very generic and dull. Whereas the double-chamfered, commonly used in jewelry, created nice tiny reflections on the glass that makes it look even better.

Black Sand  

This is a bonus. There's no much to say about the black sand, but while we were recording the material for this update, we decided to share this video with you. It is amazing how the Black Sand gives an entirely new look to SANDSARA, making it truly unique!

Thank you for reading our updates. It is amazing to have you on-board. 

Remember that if you would like to turn your SANDSARA into a piece that perfectly fits your space and personality, you can still upgrade it with any of these amazing add ons. This is the last week you can make changes to your order via Backerkit. If you want to include any add on, all you've got to do is modify your survey in Backerkit. If you need to retrieve your survey, click here, and you'll receive your survey link in your email again. If you have any questions, please send us a direct message, and we'll be happy to help. 

Every update is a great opportunity to acknowledge your unbelievable support. Thank you for giving us the chance to turn this amazing idea into a beautiful product. This stage is especially exciting because we get to see SANDSARA coming to life on a mass scale for the first time. 

Cheers, 

THE SANDSARA TEAM

Thu Oct 1 '20 Announcement
over 5 years ago – Thu, Oct 01, 2020 at 03:50:46 PM

Hey guys,

This is the most exciting update we've published so far! 

As we've told you before, we've been busy making sure every detail is perfect for production. It might sound like just a phrase, but we've been reviewing EVERY SINGLE PIECE. SANDSARA has more than 130 components, and we deeply analyzed and made changes to all of them, from the smallest the largest. 

The thing is that SANDSARA'S mechanism is not that complicated...once it is solved. But finding the right combination of components requires creativity, mastery to find good solutions, and having a personality that doesn't settle until everything feels right. Luckily, our team has all of these characteristics. 

We don't want to bore you with an extensive report of all the revisions we've made, so here's a summary of all the significant changes. 

But first a quick notice. We are locking the orders and charging cards in one week, October 6th, to be exact. This week is your LAST CHANCE TO UPGRADE YOUR SANDSARA and include our beautiful add ons. If you have any questions regarding your order, please send us a private message so we can help you.

Now, we can continue:

All Metal Mechanism  

Every component of SANDSARA's internal part is made with premium metal parts. SANDSARA requires absolute precision. To ensure that, we decided to have an all-metal mechanism. This way, every part stays in place.
We made a careful study and chose the best metal for each component, taking into account durability, magnetism, and cost-efficiency. As a result, SANDSARA creates beautiful paths with high-definition.

Aura Upgrade  

It's hard to describe how much better the Aura upgrade is, and how beautiful it looks in person. Every single picture and video you've seen of SANDSARA up until this moment included a 30 LED strip. We were pretty happy with the amount of light and uniformity of a 30 LED arrangement until we tested a 60 LED strip from one of our suppliers. Not only is it much brighter, it is also completely uniform, making it impossible to pinpoint any individual light source and making it look like the sand bed is glowing instead.
The problem was that all of the electronic components were designed to handle 30 LEDs, not 60, so it took a lot of work and creativity to make it work, but we just couldn't let it go.

Elevation Stand  

After receiving the production samples, we run an ergonomic test to make sure The Elevation Stand turned SANDSARA into a fine piece of furniture that could fit perfectly in your space. We decided to adjust the dimensions so that the legs would be closer to the center. While little, this dimensional change improves the way SANDSARA interacts with its surrounding.

Continue reading in Part 2...