Boblbee
Encyclopedia
Boblbee was first established in 1997 as a thinktank for research and development of sports
Sports equipment
Sports equipment is a general term for any object used for sport or exercise. Examples of sports equipment include:-Exercise equipment:Examples for exercise include swiss balls, weights, equipment for the gym...
and recreational equipment. This eventually led to the design and manufacture of hardshell and softshell backpack
Backpack
A backpack is, in its simplest form, a cloth sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders, but there can be exceptions...
s. Corporate headquarters are located in Torekov
Torekov
Torekov is a locality situated in Båstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 888 inhabitants in 2005. It is still a fishing village but it is today known as a summer resort....
, southern Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
where their products are made and assembled. They have received two Good Design Awards.
History
Jonas Blanking, a noted industrial designer, has a background in the automotive and sports industries having worked with such companies as Alfa RomeoAlfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
, Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
and sports-gear maker Salomon
Salomon
Salomon is a form of the given name Solomon. It can refer to:People* Salomon, King of Brittany * Salomon Companies* Salomon Brothers, a former investment bank, now a part of Citigroup...
. An avid outdoorsman, he constantly had trouble with conventional backpack designs that would render his books and papers soggy in inclement weather or allow damage to his laptop casings. Therefore he felt the need for a backpack unlike those considered suitable for sports such as hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
and biking, it would have to be rigid and provide adequate volume.
Blanking looked to the air cargo industry for his first attempt in working out his predicament, which led him to employ the use of aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
and ABS
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is a common thermoplastic. Its melting point is approximately 105 °C ....
plastics. Prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
s were developed in 1996, which even then bore an unconventional appearance. The final prototype featured a concept in which the outer shell could be implemented such that the outside surface area is as useful as the internal volume. Fasteners located all over the pack led to one being able to carry a skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
or snowboard
Snowboard
Snowboards are boards, usually with a width the length of one's foot, with the ability to glide on snow. Snowboards are differentiated from monoskis by the stance of the user...
with simple straps that could be taken off with ease. Later, accessories were made to fit around the sides and the crevasse situated at the bottom of the pack for lumbar
Lumbar
In tetrapod anatomy, lumbar is an adjective that means of or pertaining to the abdominal segment of the torso, between the diaphragm and the sacrum ...
support.
The concept was finalized in April 1998, leading to the birth of the Boblbee Monocoque
Monocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
Hardshell Backpack, now known as the Megalopolis.
Megalopolis
The Megalopolis was their first and is their most popular backpack to date. Using a design that reminds some of a tobogganToboggan
A toboggan is a simple sled which is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites...
or even a jetpack, it has the ability to make one distinct from the crowds. The design is so influential in fact that the Megalopolis and other lines have been greatly imitated, although these fakes are on the decline. So individual is the form that the Megalopolis (and the identical but smaller Peoples Delite) have appeared as accessories in movies such as Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
, Hitch
Hitch
Hitch may refer to:* Hitch knot, a knot used to attach a rope to a fixed object* Tow hitch, a construction on a truck or car to attach a trailer* Hitches, fish in the genus Lavinia including Lavinia exilicauda...
, Jason X
Jason X
Jason X is a 2002 science fiction horror slasher film directed by James Isaac. It is the tenth in the Friday the 13th film series and stars Kane Hodder as the undead mass murderer Jason Voorhees, the film made $16,951,798 worldwide with a budget of $14 million...
, The Fast And The Furious
The Fast and the Furious (2001 film)
The Fast and the Furious is a 2001 street racing action film starring Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Directed by Rob Cohen, The Fast and the Furious was the first mainstream film to feature the Asian automotive import scene in North America. It is the first film...
, The Italian Job
The Italian Job (2003 film)
The Italian Job is a 2003 heist film directed by F. Gary Gray. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland. It is an American remake of a 1969 British film of the same name, and is about a team of thieves who plan to steal...
and also Bicentennial Man, for which the pack could be considered futuristic for the movie's time setting.
The Megalopolis comes in two versions, the Executive and Sport models. The difference between the two is the color selections (Sport version has in-mold primary colors, whereas the Executive has been painted and lacquered in a myriad of colors). The Executive has a partition of the interior, where the Sport has a removable laptop sleeve instead of an actual laptop compartment.
Target audience
Boblbee bills itself as a sports enthusiast company, but the vast proportion of their products are used in urban situations. CourierCourier
A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of express services, and swift delivery times, which are optional for...
s, cyclists, motorcyclists and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
's are all noted buyers of Boblbee packs, especially the Megalopolis. In world terms, popularity has been achieved mainly in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
where a big portion of Boblbee items are sold. Boblbee Japan also has a website separate from the main site which features products exclusive to that region. Boblbee also sells well in their home region, Europe.
Hardshell
- Peoples Delite: A somewhat junior version of the Megalopolis. Smaller form factor and fewer connection points for the External Strapping System
- Sam Hipbag: What the name implies, a hipbag shaped with the principles of the Megalopolis.
- Scorpia: A hardshell handbag/backpack which has a latch-lock system. Smaller in volume when compared to the Peoples Delite.
- Scarabee: An even smaller hardshell handbag reminiscent of the Scorpia that has taken the place as a novelty line in which DisneyThe Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
motifs are incorporated.
Softshell
- Conga: CanvasCanvasCanvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...
sailor sac that as the name implies, looks like a drum.
- UFO: Another drumbag that collapses into a zippable disc.
External links
- Official Boblbee Website
- Toronto Virtual Store Website
- Czech Website
- French Website
- German Website
- Greek Website
- Japanese Website
- United Kingdom Website
- Norwegian Website
- Italy Virtual Store Website