Ori: The Future of Home

Tl;dr: Ori is going to play a major role in revolutionizing how we look at our living spaces by designing flexible products that maximize productivity.

Young, brilliant, and broke. That’s the situation 20 million of America’s college students are in as they navigate the move to international hubs such as Austin, New York City, and Los Angeles. More often than not, the only apartments they can afford are tiny spaces with barely any room to move around. Students oftentimes feel asphyxiated in rooms where fitting a sofa is a struggle. But not to fear — Ori is here!

Ori is a startup founded straight out of MIT Media Lab that has managed to raise 26 million dollars in VC funding from accelerators such as Khosla Ventures and Google Sidewalk Labs. The company centers around creating flexible spaces for urban dwellings that lower claustrophobia and your carbon footprint. They are innovating such designs as the Cloud Bed, Pocket Office, and Studio Suite Slim. All of these products can be changed into new builds or fitted into existing units to make room in any apartment.

With the press of a button on your phone, you can completely change the orientation of the furniture. Units are connected robotically via a mobile app called The Ori App, where various layouts can be configured by one touch. There is even compatibility with existing smart home systems such as Amazon’s Echo, which makes for an impressive level of convenience. The entire structure centers around 4 components: the “muscle,” “skeleton,” “brains,” and “skin.” While the muscle is made up of the track, motors, and electronics that keep the system running, the skeleton is comprised of the frame and wheels which add movement. The brain is the compact computer that hooks the device up to the Internet and adds safety features. Lastly, the skin is the various extensions that can be added to the frame for enhanced functionality. These components work together in order to create a truly unique user experience.

The idea behind the name came from the term origami, which means “fold” in Japanese. It is indeed a fitting name, for Ori products can fold, expand, and generally create a much more functional space with twice the flexibility. They are made from ¾ plywood finished with high quality laminate.

Overall, this is a super creative solution and I can’t wait to see what Ori comes up with next! The company is certainly on the right path to tackling an issue that millions of people deal with on a yearly basis, one that they would be willing to spend money to fix. It now remains to be seen how large of a market share they will capture in the coming years when contending with massive competitors in the traditional furniture industry.

Meet the Author

Hello! My name is Amanda and I’m a 16 year old junior in high school who’s currently exploring cryptocurrency. In my free time, I’m learning paper trading with the end goal of learning how to invest in the stock market. Fintech, advanced travel, and space technology all interest me, which I’m exploring at a program for future innovators called The Knowledge Society.

If you would like to reach out to me, you can message me right here on LinkedIn. Cheers!