LONDON — Anyone who’s travelled by plane, train or automobile in recent years will have spotted countless children travelling with ride-on suitcases. Travelling is a tiring business and the dearth of seats at airports and trains can make travelling a nightmare. Trunkis -- ride-on suitcases for kids -- have long been the envy of grown-ups on the go.
Fellow travellers, the designers at Trunki feel your pain. In fact, demand for adult sit-on suitcases has been so great that Trunki set to work creating a product for fully grown travellers. They invented a sit-on, carry-on suitcase with a pop-out pod, a seat to rest on and in-line wheels to glide along.
An April Fool’s gag posted by Trunki garnered a tremendous response on Facebook, reaching over 3,000 likes and 1,000 comments. From this Facebook gag an idea was born. Designers did some research and identified a gap in the market, having discovered that a hard-backed carry-on case upon which you could sit had not ever been invented.
Jurni, the adult equivalent to Trunki, also has a pop-out pod that allows you to store and access essentials without fully unzipping your case. If you’ve ever had to unzip your case in an airport lounge, you’ll know the agony of displaying your post-trip laundry to a room full of strangers is less than ideal.
“Our journey started four years ago with two very simple observations: young people love their tech and crave their independence,” says creator and designer of Trunki, Rob Law.
“So our aim was to design the ultimate piece of luggage for them. That’s how Jurni was born.
“We really believe consumers have the power to decide what a great product is and can genuinely help shape its development. We saw that in their response to Trunki after Dragons’ Den and feel Indiegogo is its modern day equivalent. We’d like to harness this power for the launch of Jurni and bring the same rewarding experience Trunki gives young children to the next generation of travellers.”
Trunki first came to public attention in 2006 following an appearance on BBC2's Dragons’ Den programme, in which panellist Richard Farleigh offered Law £100,000 ($152,816) for a 50% stake in the company; an offer which Law rejected.