The One-Pump Inflatable Cave Tent
The Cave Was The First Innovative Design By Heimplanet, An Outdoor Product Co. Started By Two Nature Lovers With A Passion For Engineering
“It’s all about the feeling you get when being in nature. This moment when you realize that you are part of something that is so much more important than everything you care about in your daily routine.” Those are the words of Stefan Clauss, one of the founders of Heimplanet, an outdoor product company. Clauss started the company with his friend, also named Stefan. “We have known each other since our childhood and already have shared lots of stories, fun, and beers,” he says.
The company has many innovative outdoor products that started with a tent called “The Cave.” What makes this tent unique is that it is completely inflatable - meaning “the tent’s set up takes less than a minute, everyone can do it without struggling, and even in extreme conditions it is unbreakable,” explains Clauss. The idea for the tent came from a lot of thought and trial and error. “I remember sitting in the kitchen at 4 o’clock in the morning, thinking of a solution for a unique construction,” Clauss recalls, “I stumbled upon a picture of a wooden model and the geodesic principle and I knew that this is it!”
The Geodesic principle is an interesting tangent. The geodesic dome is based on a geodesic polyhedron - where triangles form a shape of a sphere - causing an extremely strong structure that can withstand extreme conditions. Two prime examples in America are the Climatron at the Botanical Gardens in St. Louis and Epcot Center in Disney World. The idea of geodesic domes is most often associated Buckminster Fuller, an American architect, who influenced the founders of Heimplanet greatly.
Stefan and Stefan spent time improving their design based on this principle and came up with a strong structure that has a one-pump system. “Even though the tent has several individual pieces, we made it so it can be pumped from one access point,” explains Clauss. Originally they wanted to invent an alternative to tents, but with this philosophy and technology they “wanted to create and build the tent of the future.”
The challenges to development were that most factories told them they couldn’t develop it. “We travelled in Germany (where Heimplanet is based) and then all of Europe,” Clauss recalls, “The feedback was always the same: you can not build something like that!” So they went to China and visited 16 different factories, all of which said the same thing, however those factories told Heimplanet what is possible to build, so they worked on an improved version of a tent and that is how “The Cave” came to be.
The company comes out of their love of nature and engineering. “Some love to build model railways in their spare time and I love to build bags and tents,” explains Clauss. The name itself speaks to their love of nature. Heim comes from the word Heimat, it means a place you feel at home. “We liked the idea of taking some of that place around our planet while traveling,” the company explains.
The two Stefan’s go out into nature as much as possible. Clauss shares an amusing story where he and his co-founder go surfing for the first time in Portugal in 2003. “We were kind of naive and got in the water, facing waves that were above 3m,” explains Clauss, “In the wrong position and without any experience we tried to get on the boards with the first wave and it was gigantic!” They completely got destroyed by the wave and tried to get back out and do it again. They were destroyed again, barely made it back to shore and “The first thing Stefan did after breathing was vomit,” Clauss chuckles. They got to the beach and “laid spread-eagle like broken men trying to recover and this Brazilian woman came over and lied down next to us the same way,” he recalls, “we found out later that she was in Portugal to participate in the Surf Worldcup.” Meaning, two inexperienced friends were trying to surf waves that exhausted a professional surfer.
Lucky for the world, the Stefan’s survived and created their company with innovating products. “Before we started the whole project, we didn’t see ourselves as outdoor people,” Clauss says, “but when we thought of the things we did and still do, we found that being in nature actually plays a big role in our lives.” “I have a lot of fun thinking of better and creative solutions to problems,” Clauss explains. As for the company, they want to help people have adventures outside away from traditional camping, but not in an extreme way. The strategy for development of products and marketing is simple: “to tell the story of Heimplanet and show people what they miss if they don’t get outside.”
Andrew Malo
A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University in Education, Andrew has taught for the past decade in Chicago, New Mexico, and Japan. He enjoys tinkering with trucks and motorcycles, woodworking, reading and computer programming.
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Heimplanet, an innovative outdoor products company whose goal is to develop the best possible travel equipment. They combine the best technical features available with a clean and simple design and are inspired by the excitement of traveling in the process.