The demand for the Triple Zero was the highest I have ever seen since the original Evora. Two years ago I challenged myself to design something that was a bit different than the rest of the Luftverk releases. It was during a time where I moved to a new city and went through some pretty bad mental health issues and was in an over all stressed out situation. Over time, I figured out a lot of it and eventually found the help I needed. I bring this up because I always looked at design as an outlet to express emotions. I think looking back at that experience though, it did help shape my design philosophy behind the Triple Zero.
I finally understood how artists tend to create the most expressive art pieces during hardships. We have seen this things like music, where they create stuff in an almost therapeutic way. The Triple Zero was just that - an abstract object representation of what I was going through in that moment in time. It's why the design and name are both unique and doesn't fit in the Luftverk line ( Think Fulvia, Evora, Ultima, Octavia, ect. which actually does bother me haha, but I digress). Even the simplicity of it - I usually design with a lot of features around the hub area. It was just a different avenue that I don't think I would have naturally taken. Regardless the minimalistic design somehow struck a chord with people because it has by far been the most requested yoyo for a re-release. I figured Id do one large final run of this model before it was retired so anyone who wanted one can get one.
The Triple Zero by design looks very simple - with literally three curves making up the entire shell. But it was one of the most difficult designs I have done since I needed to balance the look of the profile/hub while making it play the way I wanted to. This was a harder balancing act since you can really only move two curves on the drawing, vs if you look at something with features in the hub you can generally play around a lot easier. Since the original 000 released, I wanted to do a Bi-metal version but I just didn't know how. It never came into fruition because I could never get it to look the way I wanted. Adding a traditional ring like the Fulvia/Ultima ruined the lines (or the lack there of). It just never looked right. An inside ring also would mess up how clean the hub looked as well. It sat on the back burner until recently where I remembered a few yoyos I had prototyped already had what I was looking for.
I make a few yoyos that are private to me which I refer to as "Design Studies". They still feature titanium, but are usually really weird and much more on the risky side. One of the protos I did 3 years back involved a 3d printed inlay that pressed into a groove. This is one of many designs that obviously didn't make it to public eye due to vibration issues and cost (more about this in a later release), but it helped me later on developing this Triple Zero. It is one of the reasons why I do these studies even if no one really sees them - they tend to bleed creativity into the yoyos i do release. But for the design study that featured the 3d printed inlay, I looked at it and it just clicked for the Triple Zero bimetal. I needed to do an inlay style ring which was completely not intuitive when you think of what a traditional "bimetal yoyo" should look like.
With a titanium/stainless steel design I figured you wouldn't even notice the ring so I decided to do for the first time make the ring from brass instead. Brass was also a plus since it is much denser than steel which helps in this case because the ring is so small. It concentrates so much mass on the edge but due to the overall low weight it still feels extremely light and floaty. It plays very similar to the standard Triple Zero which I wanted to preserve. The float and the noises it makes are still very similar but with a slightly more stable feel. I really didn't want to take away the properties that made the original so loved by the community. The wall thickness could be machined really thin as well, because of the unique properties of titanium which makes the ring really look like its almost painted on the edge.
Because this will be the last run, I also decided to try a new bearing type - a gold bearing to match the brass rings. This was more of an aesthetic choice than anything but they definitely spin more consistently than the standard centertrac. The continuity with the ring makes it look right at home - both the standard version and the bimetal version will include this bearing. Some other small changes include the new certificate design which I added details featuring the triple zero in the background. I wanted to offer something a bit different than the original run from over two years ago.
This will be likely the final run of these. I did run more than usual to meet growing demands from both customers and retail stores but they are still limited just due to the absurd cost that goes into making anything titanium. I am planning to ramp things up a bit bigger in 2021 seeing as people are wanting more products which I am grateful for, but it is also stressful to keep up with payments for manufacturing. Regardless my only wish is that anyone who wants one can get one, especially with a design that represents so much of what I went through during that part of my life.
As always these will be available on the Luftverk website. I am hoping this larger run won't sell out immediately so whatever doesn't sell will end up in the hands of retailers (they generally have more reach than my little store).
The 000 & 000 BTM will drop Tuesday Feb 9th, 2021 10pm EST time.
When the 888 Forever Titanium came out Christmas of 2019…I promised I would never buy another yoyo. The BiMetal 000 allows me to keep my promise to myself because now I will become an art buyer. Gorgeous work, Brother.
It has been a year an a half living in Osaka, crazy how time flies. I remember releasing the Plastic Fulvia just before leaving Toronto, a product that I could argue changed the trajectory of everything. At that moment, Luftverk grew exponentially, with the support of retailers around the world. At that moment, I developed so many behind the scenes processes for management that it became much more of a corporate job then a creative one. Huge projects like Cheatcode, and the CLYW collaboration definitely had its creative sides dont get me wrong, but the addition of moving to a foreign city, learning a new language, pursuing motorsports and delegating tasks behind the scenes with razor sharp margins meant for a lot of it I was on the brink of burnout. I questioned if I even still liked doing yoyo stuff at all, or if it was just to keep food on the table.
Crazy to think it has been 2 years since the original release of the Plastic Fulvia and Plastic 000. Both models as of now are pretty much sold out everywhere, and I knew it was about time to update both with a small batch of new colors as well as fix a few small issues with the first designs. I appreciate everyone who has reached out anticipating a restock of these - as the manufacturing process is very timely for sure so restocks can't happen as quick as I'd like.
In January, I released the AKURA MG, a yoyo made from Magnesium. This material has a very low density and I talked about how it performs more like a plastic than anything else. But what made that yoyo really special is the aesthetic. I loved the lines on that yoyo. The proportions with the chunky rims were just perfect. One of the biggest aesthetic challenges though were that after the ceramic coating the lines were quite subtle which hid the design.
Jeffrey Pang
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