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re:Mix is a kitchen blender which you use with your own glass jars. It’s made in #Berlin and “open source”, and the intent is for others to build & sell in their local region.
This is a model I’ve been waiting to appear! Who wants to build in #Vancouver / #BC? https://www.openfunk.co/pages/re-mix
I have some scribbled notes about this, where basically a small business in Berlin doesn’t compete with one in Vancouver — or even Calgary or Toronto, just in Canada.
So: how might they work together? Pooling expertise, capital, promotion, etc, while focusing on regional production and sales.
Move the IP, rather than the product! #BuyLocal
@jack the fit around the seal and the coupling to the blades is the important part I would think.
And now I'm just trying to figure out if there are ANY made in Canada blenders.
@boris I love this direction.
There may be some lessons by looking at alternatives and the user experience with this product. A Magic Bullet is absurdly cheap (~$45), and cheaply made. This product is on-trend, though expensive (~EUR199-249) and limited for functionality (no food above 40C).
The blade-holder is 3D printed, which is great for small-volume, decentralized production... though again: expensive and probably not as good from a material and cleaning perspective.
@boris just knowing it is possible to 3D print a part and I'll never be forced to pay exorbitant amounts for spare parts, and having the assurance it's maintainable are really big selling points.
A lot of the commercial equipment I bought has no more support, and manuals aren't even online.
Open-source forces manufacturers to fix those issues, and has huge potential in general.
@danielharan I know of a 3D printing startup about 6 blocks from my house that is using carbon composite parts. Good stuff happening in this area generally.
I now found out that standard blenders already fit jars https://cosocial.ca/@boris/110883429728529497
So the search for a made-in-Canada blender begins. Know of any?
@boris I don't know of any, and I'd opt for maintainability over made-in-Canada.
If you're exploring this area on the design side, I assume you're familiar with the KitchenAid and its accessories?
There are probably a few amazing use cases for a well designed blender.
@danielharan I’m interested in local small scale production as part of maintainability and supply chain. Those aspects of “well designed” is what I’m digging in to.
Blendtec and Vitamix both appear to be US-resident and good quality but unclear if they do any local manufacturing or supply chain.
My next step may be “build your own blender” at a local maker space / fab lab, which will force supply chain investigation.
@boris Congratulations! You have unlocked franchising.
@MykDowling yes, that's what I meant by I have some vague notes and previous thoughts around this :)
Franchising is centralized ownership of IP, with franchisees places "buying in", and getting a license.
I'm musing about a more collaborative, shared "IP", but also really support for things like day-to-day operations. Sharing your best Shopify setup (or whatever) is part of the stuff that small biz really needs help with.
@boris I fear it would be difficult to scale such a cooperative arrangement without it becoming a corporation in its own right. In fact, from a legal perspective, it's probably a poor decision for any business to engage in such IP sharing _without_ a firm legal arrangement. Forming a joint corporation would be the simplest way to do that. And then if you want to add additional members to the arrangement, the cooperative corporation would need some way of ensuring members follow standards...
@MykDowling yes decentralized covers it’s own challenges but it has scaled with open source software.
Using overly formal language like “IP” probably isn’t helpful here.
The insight and potential is that a small business in Berlin or in adjacent cities across Canada doesn’t necessarily compete with others and thus can explore forms of collaboration.
@boris #cosmolocalism FTW! I love the idea of IP as commons + local businesses; if I ever got out of tech I'd probably create a plastic recycling/manufacturing cottage business 
@boris
You could consider a #platformcoop to share infrastructure and pool resources. Businesses as well as individuals could be part of it and still maintain their local autonomy in supply chains and business activity.