Oru Kayak

Anton Willis

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Oru Kayak is an American origami folding kayaks company. The company was founded in 2012 by Anton Willis and is based in Emeryville, CA.

Oru Kayak designs high-performance, folding kayaks for all types of paddlers. Oru kayaks are easy to transport and store, letting you explore like never before.

Company History

Anton Willis details the beginnings of their company in their Starter Story interview: (source)

Q: How did you get started on Oru Kayak?

I grew up in the rural backwoods of Northern California. As a kid, I had two overwhelming passions: being outside, and making stuff. In college, I gravitated towards design and developed an obsession with boats- to me they really express the essence of design as a marriage between function and beauty.

It’s a lot easier to find a unique marketing or branding angle on something that’s already basically worked out, and that has factories ready to hit “go”.

Eventually, I went to graduate school for architecture and fixed up an old fiberglass kayak which I used to explore the San Francisco Bay on weekends. After graduating, I moved into a small apartment and had to put my kayak in storage. At the same time, I read a magazine article about origami and had the crazy idea to make a kayak that could fold up like a piece of paper.

Source (source)

Technology

They use Odoo for their crm. Instagram for their social media.

Company History

Technology

References