If you feel like taking a break from your hectic everyday life and simply want to relax and rewind, while steering away from crowded holiday destinations (which aren’t a wise choice during a pandemic), a good option to consider is Camping! Not a soul in sight for miles, only you and the great outdoors. It’s a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with nature, breathe in some fresh air, and let go of all your worries. As appealing as it sounds, camping does have a few downsides too! I mean, you have to get down and dirty, live life on the road and tackle the moodiness of the elements. In such a scenario, having a set of trustworthy and handy camping products can make a world of difference! Having the right products by your side can make your life much easier during those crucial moments. From a revolving trailer that rotates at 90 degrees to a water-activated cell that gives you instant power, we’ve curated a collection of super functional and useful designs that’ll transform your camping experience into a glamping one!
Camping and caravanning have always been about getting down to the bare necessities of life, living life on the road and at the mercy of the elements. However, New Zealand-based design and architecture firm W2 has decided to help amp up the experience! Their revolutionary trailer design, ‘Romotow’, the name an amalgamation of ‘room to move’ contains all the usual RV features but with an innovative 90-degree twist. With the press of a simple electric button, it swivels open, rotating at 90 degrees, to reveal an open synthetic teak deck. With this, it increases the living space by 70 percent, and the area can also be used as a party deck! Measuring 30 feet by 8.5 feet and offering 290 square feet of living space (the same as a lot of tiny apartments these days), the caravan comes along with a living area, bedroom, kitchenette, and bathroom, all with stylish fixtures and spacious interiors.
You can find these unique tents in the Borgloon forest in Belgium if you are looking for a safer alternative to the usual touristy destinations post the pandemic. In fact, it has gained attention only now when people are looking to camp outdoors because it is safer, won’t require you to fly, budget-friendly and avoids the crowds. Designed by the Dutch artist Dre Wapenaar, these ‘Tranendreef’ tree tents blend architecture and sculpture into one functional structure. The tent is suspended above the ground and basically hangs on the tree like fruit. The guests use a ladder to get inside/outside. It can host two adults and two small children. Originally installed as part of a public art project called ‘Pit’ (hence the avocado shape we assume) organized by Z33, it brought art into the public space of Borgloon. The designer also created ‘field furniture’ – seating, washing, toilet, and BBQ units to complete the camping site with the tents.
A portable light source is essential for every hiker or camper, especially during those dark hours. It can be a valuable protector, revealing dangerous/poisonous critters on the ground, or sending an SOS signal if you are injured. The designers behind this product seemed to understand this importance. The Solarpill is a pendant-sized solar-powered lighting device that can attach to your body or almost any surface in the wild. How? The white half of the pill has a hole where you can thread a rope through to make a keychain or necklace. That part is also a cap, that when removed, reveals a needle-like stake that can be embedded into trees or soft rocks along your path. Igneous isn’t it? This ability to poke the light into any surface comes especially handy when we need to work hands-free, be it to cut some rope or while relieving ourselves while outdoors.
HydraCell was designed to give you instant power if you were outdoors or had an emergency. Hydralight’s water-activated fuel cell can charge your devices and provide light for days – a must-have for campers. It is also eco-friendly, all the waste generated from creating the HydraCell is 100% biodegradable and doesn’t add to toxic landfill waste like most flashlights. When you need power during a storm or outdoors we use batteries but are they really reliable? More often than not, batteries are dead, or faulty they haven’t been used, and while you can recharge some during a power cut that is not an option. HydraCell fills this negative gap that batteries have with positive innovation. It can provide up to 100 hours of light and charge up to 10 phones with a single charge plate.
Cybertruck enthusiast, Joe, has designed this futuristic camper that was discovered on a fan website. The renders are similar to that of Tesla’s bulletproof camper configuration but the difference lies in the number of jokes that Joe endured vs Elon Musk. The Cyber Camper’s monoplane design extends into a canopy on the rear side of the vehicle. It comes in a smaller solo option and a slightly larger duo option which is based on the sleeping quarters secured in its angular shell. The duo version provides extra cabin space with its wider frame and also has more windows on both the front and back. While both vehicles share an almost identical base frame, the Cyber Camper is looking to add more value to the user’s experience. “These renders need work but I want something in the vault so there is no need to tow and it can travel almost anywhere. A camper style like this by Tesla or third-party companies would be amazing,” says the designer.
The Muncher by Full Windsor, however isn’t a multi-tool. It’s a multi-utensil. Built for the slightly sophisticated Bear Grylls in you, this little piece of metal fits all the tools you need to survive in the wild. Weighing in at a mere 0.7 ounces (20grams) this bad-boy fits in 10 different pieces of camping equipment into one slick, pocketable mass. The Muncher’s design looks a lot like a spork, but that’s just from afar. On closer inspection you’ll see that apart from being a spoon/fork amalgamation it even cuts, peels, slices, opens, fastens/loosens, and even ignites! Yes, the Muncher comes with a pretty handy flint-stick that allows you to not just start the fire, but even open the tinned food, and eat said food once you’re done cooking. The Muncher comes crafted in titanium, probably the most appropriate material for something of its nature. Titanium, for one, with its incredible strength makes great blades that don’t lose their edge easily.
This concept off-roading vehicle inspired by the iconic Land Rover Series I proves that alright, with its flexible design that’s tailored for people who believe in minimalism while en route their next escapade. The brain-child of transportation designer Edwin Senger from Ulm, Germany, the travel off-roader has a very clever and simple approach – using the available space smartly. Edwin calls it the ‘Land Rover Back Packer’ with the inherent vision of luring young adventure seekers to have reason enough to explore the outdoors even more. The 4×4 open-air electric vehicle is your safe haven to sleep under the starry sky, cook meals on an extended adventure trip, or pitch a mobile tent to have some quality time with your pal. When things get a little rough with the climate, the two-seater vehicle can also be fitted with the weather protection kit. In essence, it is an all-terrain vehicle for every climatic condition or geographical region. The buggy-like off-roader comes with a flexible solar sail for harnessing the sun’s energy to power the onboard electric battery and providing shade in the scorching heat. Finally, when the night hits the terrain, the seats can be retracted back for you to sleep and gaze through the semi-transparent weather protection material.
When you look up a portable stove for the next outdoor adventure you will find a range of them available the moment you press the magical search button. What you’re unlikely to find is a compact and foldable stove that’ll take away half your packing woes before gearing up for the camp. The Kooke Portable Stove makes an impression with its lightweight, rotatable, and foldable form factor. When you want to use it – swivel open the gas stove from its plastic housing, pull out the burner stands, slot in the fuel can, and voila you’re done! A rotatable controller on the face of the stove lets you switch the gas on and control the flame. Kooke can be easily folded back, to store after use, occupying little possible storage space. Interestingly, the portable stove is easy to carry with a handle on the plastic case and fits the bill in the outdoors with both function and appearance.
The Tailgater comes in its own metal case which doubles up as the folding lid of the metal frame. Designed with telescopic legs, just like the ones seen on tripods, the Tailgater can be height-adjusted to accommodate any size of garbage-bag you may own, although the company’s earlier invention, the Kwik BagIt is perhaps the most sustainable way to go. Kwik BagIt’s are reusable, easily washable, durable garbage bags made from a combination of cloth and recycled plastic. A single Kwik BagIt bag can be used hundreds of times, and given that it’s much thicker than a conventional garbage bag (and woven too), Kwik BagIt bags never tear or rip, scattering your garbage all across the road. Designed as multiple-use garbage bags for all sorts of purposes, these poly-cloth bags come in a variety of sizes as well as colors to help coordinate your trash.
No math and no increasing plastic waste when we have GoSun Flow – a portable water purifier that is also a sink and provides water for shower all while storing the solar energy that it creates. The GoSun Flow is made keeping in mind that it is small enough to fit into a backpack so it doesn’t add to the minimal essentials one has to carry during their trip. It uses solar energy to filter 99.99% of pathogens from water and is able to pump 1 liter of clean water per minute! Apart from providing safe drinking water it also doubles up as a portable handwashing station and hot shower. Having a hot shower (the one thing you miss the most during camping) is such an upgrade because that means we don’t have to jump into a cold water body, everyone knows the right temperature of hot water in the showers is basically therapy for your soul. It is super easy to get this energy-efficient appliance running – place the intake hose into any water source (except salt water), plug in the pump, and it will automatically start filtering the water. To use the faucet or shower, simply clamp the faucet and flip on the pump!
