Article: The final product after five years
The final product after five years
SYRINX's masterpiece "Hitoe® Fold" has been on the market for five years. To mark this milestone, the company has released the Hitoe® Fold Antico, which is currently being crowdfunded.
This commemorative model is not just a variation in the specifications of the leather. It is the culmination of improvements that have been made over the course of five years, and is an update to the final form that has resolved the last remaining issues.
Hitoe® Fold has undergone countless innovations to achieve both thinness and functionality. The gusset is small, the corners are made of overlapping leather, and the number of parts is kept to a minimum. All of these were innovations to achieve a high level of both beauty and durability.
However, there was one thing that bothered me: the structure of the coin pocket.
When the wallet is folded into an "U" shape, the leather naturally tries to spread outward. Meanwhile, the stitching on the side pushes it back inward. This clash of forces creates slight distortions in the surface of the leather, which can appear as wrinkles over time.
Although there is no problem with the functionality, there is a sense of incongruity that cannot be overlooked when pursuing the perfection of design. Now that we have reached the milestone of our fifth anniversary, we have decided to face this final challenge head-on.
Starting in late May, just before the leather arrived, we quickly made numerous prototypes, reconsidered the sewing order, and changed the way the edges were wrapped around the bag. This allowed us to absorb the force of the leather as it tried to expand, resulting in a structure that was less likely to wrinkle.
To make this change, we reworked the mold from scratch, and while it may be barely noticeable on the outside, this small change has a huge impact on the overall finish.
In addition, the effective length of the coin pocket has been expanded. Not only does it increase storage capacity, but the same amount of coins are more distributed and stored thinner. The lines of the exterior are also beautifully aligned with the card pockets, creating a more unified design.
When it comes to everyday items like wallets, don't overlook the slightest bit of discomfort and reconsider it from the ground up.
It is the accumulation of these small improvements that quietly improves the overall level of perfection.
That is what SYRINX considers to be "design."
(Text by Hironao Sato, CEO and designer of SYRINX)
*The leather used in the prototype in the top photo is not Antico.
