These days, the professionals at Stantek AS are putting the finishing touches on a pilot delivery that Sveneric Skoglund refers to as one of the most exciting in recent years. The large aluminium frames are the foundation of the newly developed bicycle parking solution from the Norwegian Bikeloop AS.
– We have great faith in this product and this manufactures. We are quite sure that Bikeloop AS hits the market right in the middle with its bicycle storage solutions. These products are made for the green transition, Skoglund believes.
An intelligent bicycle parking solution
Bikeloop AS is a relatively new Norwegian company that specializes in providing “safe parking options for cyclists by presenting an intelligent bicycle parking solution that is perfect for urban areas”.
– The idea came from the harbor promenade in Oslo, where the municipality had set up 14 orange containers to mark the way on the one kilometer long stretch of walkway along the seafront. The inventor Ketil Mørk Tveten got the idea to make these empty and non-functional containers even smarter by turning them into bicycle parking machines, says Hedda Heyerdahl, who is one of the founders of Bikeloop AS.
– We have now got an agreement in place with the first distributor here in Norway, and we are working on another one. Distributor agreements are also approaching in Sweden and Denmark. We are betting on the entire EU market, and plan to install thousands of Bikeloopers across Europe, says Heyerdahl.
A piece of urban furniture
Both Sveneric Skoglund and Hedda Heyerdahl talk about a close and fruitful process, which took place over a year.
– We are a start-up company that needed a partner to have a good dialogue with. Someone who could contribute to a production-friendly product, says the Bikeloop founder, who fully praises the people at Stantek AS.
– Firstly, they are positive and like-minded people. Secondly, they are skilled and dynamic professionals, who are not afraid to turn around and look for new and better solutions. The collaboration with Sveneric and his colleagues has been a very fruitful process in which we have helped to make each other better.
There are several different models that will now be presented to the Norwegian and international market. As an industrial designer, Hedda Heyerdahl is concerned that the solutions should not only be functional and user-friendly, they should also look good in the environments in which they will be placed. – We have made a piece of urban furniture. Or several different types of urban furniture, rather. Now we are ready to sell!
