Albatros bookmarks from Oscar Lhermitte on Vimeo.
This changes everything. E-books are dead. Books are back, baby! OK maybe we're over-reacting but the Albatros is such a simple, amazing, useful piece of technology for print books that we want to put one on every book we own. You can pre-order one ($10 for a pack of six; retail price will be $13 when they go on sale) via their Indiegogo fundraising page, and learn more on their website.
Above is a video of it in action, while below we interview Oscar lhermitte, the French genius creator of Albatros, or as we like to call it, "Bookmark 2.0." We can't wait to start reading with one.
When did you have the idea?
I invented the Albatros bookmark five years ago.
How long did it take to develop?
Five years is a very long time for a product like that to be developed, but at that time I was doing my studies so I didn't have time to dedicate to it. It is also my first product to be industrially made. They have been on my website for a while, and I sold a few in London bookshops, but it was not really successful as they were all hand-made and I didn't have a video presenting it. I really started developing it about a year and a half ago. A lot has changed since the first Albatros!
What is happening next to the product?
I have managed to raise the necessary funds to do the first production run so that I can sell them online. There are however 26 days to go until the end of the fundraising campaign, so people can still pre-order their Albatros bookmarks at discounted prices and they will receive them before everyone else. The production will start once the Indiegogo campaign is over, so you should expect to receive them by Easter.
However, you can already order Albatros bookmarks with your logo, but only in large quantities. The production starts when we receive an order. More information can be found on our website.
The Albatros bookmarks are made in France. Apart from myself, there is no other distributor, yet.
Any other book-related issues you'd like to tackle next?
I do not know yet, but I really want to carry on designing simple, yet functional products.