Great to have you here!
I'm Lisa. Travel enthusiast, industrial engineer and mother of three small children. Since the birth of my children, sustainability has become even more important in my life. I am thrilled to be now living in Australia and bring my “business baby” over!
How it started
On our parental leave we travelled the most beautiful places with the whole family. What we found was a lot of plastic waste. We collected it wherever we could. By the time our son started talking and his third word was ‘rubbish!’. This shocked me - I thought long and hard about what I could do with the rubbish we saw in the most beautiful places on earth.
That sounds rather sobering at first and like a nice marketing introduction, so I'd like to go a little deeper here. Rubbish is everywhere: of the 30 countries I have travelled to in the last 10 years, I cannot name a single one that has its rubbish under control. It's not a problem that can be easily and broadly addressed, but it is a problem everywhere!
We cannot expect everyone to become perfect zero-waste consumers, and honestly, I still think it's impossible for myself. What we should do is all do our best and take steps to address our various waste problems. The first step is to produce less waste and set an example for our children. We also point out the waste to our children and together we collect the waste around us. I recently read a fitting slogan for this: ‘It's not my waste, but my world!’
The idea
As an engineer, the follow-up question for me is: What can I do with the existing resources? How can I make good use of all the plastic waste?
It's fascinating what we can already achieve with recycled and renewable materials!
I wanted to develop a product that would make my everyday life easier and that we could use every day.
When we had five different blankets with us on our camper van through Europe, but none of them met all our needs, I had the idea of developing a blanket that is multifunctional and can be made from recycled post-consumer PET bottles.
As we travelled, I spent countless evenings and nights immersing myself in unfamiliar subject areas. Always by my side: my husband and partner in crime, Phil. To give you a few exciting examples: vector files in four different graphics programmes, poring over Pantone colours (which, by the way, look different on every screen and in every light), checking trademark/name rights, business registration, German customs import regulations...
Some of the topics are gruelling and make you despair. Then the first prototype arrives and you want to help the postman unload it because it feels like it's taking far too long and who actually came up with the idea of packing the blanket so well... Give it to me! It was so cozy and soft - the kids loved it too. We tested it over weeks, not its years and we still improve it today.
For me, UNFOLD now stands for more than just a blanket – UNFOLD stands for freedom and self-expression.
Crowdfunding
Together, my UNFOLD team and I have just gone through a very intense crowdfunding campaign (UNFOLD Outdoor-Decke ); another adventure in which my UNFOLD did not let me down and we found many courageous people who believe in our potential for growth. We have already sold 417 UNFOLDs and, including free support, have raised a total of €33,115. What a great start!
Now comes the next step towards independence and freedom – our own online shop. We are delighted that you have found your way here!
Let's unfold together!
In addition to the blue outdoor blanket that was the first product we offered, we now offer the following blankets and accessories:
Cosy blanket for children - coming soon
Dog blanket for on the go - coming soon
Travel blanket - coming soon
We also offer several bestseller sets, which include various products at a discounted price.
