Sure, the Splash Infuser sounds like a new ride at Cedar Point but in reality it’s a healthy living product being produced by Lakewood’s Cardboard Helicopter that will allow users to add their own fruit, veggies and herbs to their water or alcohol for a customized drink.
Cardboard Helicopter CEO and founder Tim Hayes tells Cool Cleveland that his research revealed similar-minded infuser bottles are hard to clean, while the public on its own may employ time-consuming processes using jars and coffee filters for the same results.
The innovative Splash Infuser makes it easy to not only drop flavors into any cup or bottle but also boasts a built-in muddler to allow users to easily mash the ingredients for instant flavor release.
However, before any new product goes to market, funds are needed for the launch, which is why Cardboard Helicopter is currently mounting a Splash Infuser Kickstarter campaign.
Here’s what Hayes had to say about the Splash Infuser:
Cool Cleveland: How exactly did you come up with the idea to create a product for flavored water?
Tim Hayes: About a year ago, it essentially started from looking at what we wanted to do and what was the biggest problem. Essentially we started with the biggest mass market and it started with water. Everyone has to drink water, and we wanted to innovate on that. We started to think about how could we make it more exciting. So we learned more about infusing water. We started testing out different ideas and my industrial design team discovered the biggest problem was it took too long. We just wanted something instantaneous, so people could start drinking more water instead of buying vitamin water and things like that.
How did you end up with the Splash Infuser design?
We tried many things, and finally came up with something that worked that was easy and could fit into any container. We realized you could use it with alcohol. Hitting those two markets were great. You can drop it into a kid’s sippie cup, a mason jar or a sports bottle or anything. We wanted to be able to be more customizable to everybody and be very simple. We wanted to really appeal to healthy living people.
So how does the Splash Infuser fit into Cardboard Helicopter?
We’re a 6,000-square foot think-tank product design firm that started two years ago. We were developing products for many different companies. We quit our day jobs to do this. We develop everything from toys to transportation to medical products from initial ideation to final concept. We’ve licensed about 20 products such as barbecue products, cooking products. We really have three kinds of cash flows, where we’re doing contract design for company designers, licensing out ideas where we come up with hundreds a year and pitch them out to companies who give us royalties and now the Splash Infuser is our first product we’re getting ready to make.
The goal is to make it here in the USA. We’re doing Kickstarter to get our first run. We’re making this product regardless. This product is being made. The Kickstarter is kind of a thing to get the first orders and get this thing going.
Considering everything Cardboard Helicopter has achieved, as well as has on its plate, do you feel a little bit like a modern day Thomas Edison or Ben Franklin?
Yeah, absolutely, mixed with a bunch of different people. It’s kind of a Steve Jobs mixed with Edison mixed with industrial designer Raymond Loewy and Viktor Schreckengost from the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Finally, as an industrial designer, what’s driving you forward?
We’re helping to bring ingenuity back to our country. Everyone is always asking me if I have been to China. I’m like, “No, maybe I don’t have to.” Maybe we can start right here. It’s like being made in America. I think people would like to see that again. Our mission statement is we use our limitless imagination to design and innovate meaningful product experiences. We ask ourselves, is it helping the world or is it making more crap in the world? We’re really excited about our products and where they’re going to lead.
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio.