This year seemed like it just flew right by us, didn’t it? 

Before the new year’s countdown begins, we want to take a moment to appreciate all the wonderful moments we’ve had together this year. We are incredibly happy to have you here with us on this journey, and really, we’re grateful for your endless support throughout.

Now, let’s rewind and take a look at our favorite moments this year. Shall we?

JANUARY

CES 2019 

Off to a good start, our team started the year with a visit to CES 2019, where we got to meet so many of you! From our OG Kickstarter backers to Indiegogo days to new faces, we had a great time meeting you in person and showing you ORII live! 

END OF AN ERA

January also marks the end of our crowdfunding days, officially.

We wrapped up our fulfillment process for all our campaigns in this month and officially closed this chapter of Origami Labs' history. It's crazy to think if not for the immense support we received back then that allowed us to bring ORII to life, none of this would have happened. It's truly an end of an era.

But not to worry, this was just a beginning. 

MARCH

E-COMMERCE LAUNCH

Soon after, we were busy getting ready for our next big milestone: the ORII e-commerce launch! 

We heard you and we knew you were waiting for ORII’s return, so we were more than excited to make this happen. Through this new website, supporters from all over the world can now get ORII shipped directly to them. 

No more waiting around just to get your hands on your own ORII!

JULY

GESTURE LAUNCH

This summer was a busy and exciting one for Origami Labs.

As you might already know, one of the highlights for our summer was the launch of our much-anticipated gesture control features! We had the opportunity to reconnect with our beta backers through this launch and show them what we’ve been envisioning since the beginning of ORII.

Did you know that we’ve always had the 6-axis gyroscope hidden in ORII this whole time? 

It was about time that we showed you our little secret hidden features and expand on the conversational interface concept, now more than just voice! 

WELCOME TO OUR FIRST POP UP

Thanks to TechstyleX, we also had our own space for the first time ever this summer, where we can invite our VIP guests in and showcase ORII to the local community. This was the perfect place for us to gather real-time feedback for us to continue working on. 

Launch aside, the team also participated in our very first dragon boat competition this summer! The dragon boat is a yearly festival here in Hong Kong, and it was such a great team bonding experience. Despite getting caught in the storm during practice, it was such a fun challenge to go through together! 

For a first try, we did pretty well if we may say so ourselves ;)  

AUGUST

NEW STORES WORLDWIDE

Post-gesture, our focus shifted in bringing ORII to the rest of the world in store. 

We understand that since ORII is such a unique product, its magic very much lies in the real-life demo and its first listening experience. And sometimes, you just want to try before you buy it. 

So by August, ORII is now located in 5 countries around the globe. And this was just our first phase of expansion. 

SEPTEMBER

ORII RETURNS TO IFA

With the mission to find more partners to bring ORII to the world, we set off to IFA Berlin in September.

We got to return to the stage, share our experience and showed off our gesture features for the first time since the launch. We loved the “Oh!” and “Wow” we got when the simple taps turn on the light or read out messages. These wow moments are what ORII is all about! Thanks to IFA, we also got to meet some new partners, to help us bring ORII to more cities around the world!

NOVEMBER

IT'S THE HOLIDAY SEASON

November is often the time to buckle down and prepare to go on full speed with the holiday season coming up. For us, it was no different.

First, we're excited to announce that our feature video is finally out! We wanted a way to showcase ORII in the easiest to digest as possible and we’re so happy with how it turned out! If you missed it, here it is! 

Besides, we launched our first international social media page with @oriiofficial_jp! As we expanded further in Japan with Hankyu Men, we want to make sure we’re ready for the community there. 

In case you missed it, we recently wrapped up our Black Friday and now on the last stretch of our Christmas promotion.

In case you're looking for a gift for a special someone, our special deal is still available at $109. ORII could be a perfect gift one who’s looking to reduce their screen time in 2020. 

And this brings us up to speed to the present. 

2019 has definitely been quite a year. We're thrilled to let you know that by now, we’re in 20+ cities worldwide! Find us in-store near you here.

What’s next you ask?

More expansion is coming our way, both with ORII in stores and otherwise. Since the creation of Origami Labs, we want to bring a screen-free future to the present and we hope 2020 will bring us a step closer to achieving this vision.

At last, we wish you a great year ahead! See you in 2020.