Høvel by Brahman Design
Høvel is the first product from the company Brahman Design. After great success on Kickstarter, Høvel has sold over 600 units directly to customers, and to retailers in Milan, London, San Francisco, and Copenhagen.
Brahman Design was founded in late 2016 by myself and Odin Ardagh. We aimed to create a company that goes against the status quo creating unique products at a minimal cost to the environment. Our aim is to have a tangible impact on the culture of disposability in which we find ourselves. We aspire to achieve this by creating products that are made to last for decades, are repairable and built from quality materials that will age with grace.
Høvel functions like a miniature hand plane. Shaving off layers gives you complete control over the desired point and dosing break the lead like a twist sharpener.
Høvel can also be used with a wooden base which remains on the desk and collects shavings while you sharpen.
The Product
One of my exclusive responsibilities is Høvel photography and editing.
Høvel comes as three parts, body, clamp, and thumb screw. Each Høvel comes with 10 replacement blades and can also be purchased woth a wooden base in either ash or cherry, and a Leather Carry Case in three colorways.
In collaboration with High Meadows Statiponery, the Leather Sheath for Høvel is our latest product.
The Campaign
Brahman's launch was through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. With a thorough press release and a broad range of press contacts, the campaign "Høvel- Straight to the Point" quickly received coverage on Designboom, Uncrate, and Core77.
The Future
Brahman has been selling at the trendy Netil Market boardering London Fields. Direct contect with customers has been greatly successful and Høvel is a very interactive piece.
Brahman's next steps are changing the manufacturing methods of Høvel from CNC-machining to drop forging in order to reduce the retail price and democratize the sale of Høvel, whilst still retaining it's premium feel. With our lower price we plan on selling larger quantities to our retailers and possibly distributors in order to spend more of our time designing the next products. Two new stationery products are in line to launch in 2019 to diversify our range and establish Brahman within the market.