We are a new lifestyle-led tech brand co-founded by tech and design entrepreneur Asad Hamir and Benjamin Hubert, Creative Director of experience design agency LAYER. Inspired by the creative and entrepreneurial spirit that defines London and today’s fast-paced, nomadic lifestyles, our mission is to deliver beautiful, highly-functional products that solve everyday challenges for people who depend on their tech to stay connected.
Our family of products has been designed by Benjamin Hubert of LAYER to keep you connected, wherever you are. The inaugural nolii collection comprises five key products – Couple, Bundle, Keep, Set, Stack. Together, they form an intelligent eco-system of accessories that make your relationship with technology – and the people you connect with – effortless.
The nolii brand and inaugural collection will launch in September at Somerset House as part of Design Frontiers at London Design Festival.
Do more. Be more We believe in doing more with the tools you have, so you can be more focused on the important things in life.
From chaotic cords and broken cables to limited charging solutions, our lives are too often interrupted by everyday tech challenges. We believe technology should improve your lifestyle, not complicate it. Driven by insightful market and user observations, nolii delivers a versatile system of products that work alone or together to enable users to stay connected effortlessly – from charging your laptop on-the-go, and transferring files quickly and efficiently, to minimising clutter with intelligent, multi-functional products.
The inaugural collection, features intuitive functionality and has a contemporary, minimal design language. It is available in three finishes – including soft pastels and contrasting and complementary colours – each of which purposefully challenges conventional tech materiality.
Community As a socially engaged, community-driven company, we want to help the world connect better. We will be launching a collaborative project in East Africa later this year with a focus on empowering people by enabling connection. Further details will be announced soon.
The Launch
nolii is showcased at LDF as part of an installation that celebrates the simple beauty of being connected. Inspired by the minimal yet expressive design language of nolii, the installation is an immersive experience that reflects the movement and connections of nolii users throughout a day. A rotating light source that mimics the movement of the sun creates a dynamic shadow play across fixed elements that can be interpreted as individuals connecting within an urban landscape. With each rotation, the nolii brand comes into clear focus.
Collaboration nolii is a partnership between Benjamin Hubert, founder and director of strategic design agency LAYER, and tech and design entrepreneur Asad Hamir.
Benjamin Hubert is a British industrial designer who has partnered with a number of globally recognised brands, including Nike, Samsung, Braun, BMW, Panasonic, Fritz Hansen, and Herman Miller. LAYER has a focus on creating meaningful design experiences based on extensive research and human behaviours. The agency’s practice incorporates diverse industries, including industrial design, mechanical and electrical engineering, user experience and interaction design, branding, and human-centred research.
Asad Hamir is a tech and design entrepreneur and trained optometrist. He founded successful telecoms business, Telenomics, in 2008 at the age of 22, and co-founded design-led eyewear brand KITE in 2014. Returning to the tech industry in 2016, he saw an opportunity to launch a lifestyle-focused tech brand to solve the everyday challenges faced by people who depend on their tech to stay connected.
In our words
“We see an exciting opportunity to disrupt the tech accessories market with products that really solve the problems that we encounter daily with our technology. This system of accessories has been designed to reduce the stress of worrying about your tech troubles and enable users to do the things that are important to them.”
Benjamin Hubert – Founder, LAYER & Creative Director, nolii
“We founded nolii because we felt there wasn’t anything on the market that we connected with that had both smart intuitive functionality and a contemporary, lifestyle-driven design language. With the new brand, we have combined industrial design ingenuity with tech innovation to solve real life problems for people who are always on-the-go and depend on their tech to succeed.”
Asad Hamir, CEO, nolii
THE COLLECTION Couple
Challenges
Phone cases protect your phone and often offer added functionality – however they are generally not adaptable to different situations.
Solution
Couple is a versatile smartphone case system that enables users to change functionality as needed. Designed to protect the phone without disguising its form, the case features an integrated twist-clip onto which various accessories can be attached.
The accessories include:
Battery: with the ability to re-charge your phone to 100%
Wallet: to carry several cards when you want to travel light
Bundle
Challenges
Many cables currently on the market easily break and tangle. They are difficult to manage neatly, and clutter surfaces.
USB keys are small and easy to lose. They clutter bags and desks.
Cables often slip off desks and bedside tables, making it difficult to locate the connector.
Solution
Bundle Cable is a robust cable that can be easily coiled up, and is available with optional integrated USB storage. The USB cable can be used to connect tech for charging or syncing data, and the USB has 8GB of storage. Bundle Cable has an inbuilt rubber loop that allows users to neatly bundle the cable and secure it by passing the connector through the loop for storage or when on-the-go. When in use on a desk or bedside table, a dock onto which the loop can be placed keeps the cable from slipping off the surface, making the connector easy to locate whenever you need it.
Keep
Challenges
Smartphone batteries run out of power and can be unpredictable. It’s easy to forget a portable charger, and not always possible to charge from mains power when on the go.
USB keys are small and easy to lose. They clutter bags and desks.
Keys and bags can be easily misplaced around the home or office.
Solution
Keep is the ultimate accessory for tech emergencies with three essential functions packed into one product.
The in-built battery pack provides a burst of power when you need it most, with enough charge to take a smartphone from 1% up to 40%.
The integrated USB with 5GB of storage makes transferring files quick and easy, wherever you are.
Like a keyring, the square can be attached to keys or a bag, and integrated Bluetooth tracking ensures the keys or bag can always be found.
Set
Challenges
It’s necessary to carry several charging devices – mains charger and battery charger – when travelling, moving around the city, or working remotely.
It’s easy to forget to charge a battery pack and/or mains plug.
Solution
Set is an all-in-one power pack for people on the move. The compact object reduces the number of tech accessories needed, as it combines a mains plug with a battery.
Set offers multiple charging solutions:
Using the mains plug you can charge from a fixed location, such as home, office or café.
Using the battery pack, you can charge while on the move.
When the mains plug is connected to the battery and used to charge a device, Travel Tower will first charge your device, then the portable battery charger – meaning users don’t have to remember to charge a battery accessory separately.
Set is available with UK, EU and US connections.
Additionally, there is a stand-alone UK plug with two USB connections, offering fast charging.
Stack
Challenges
It’s necessary to carry several charging devices – mains charger and battery charger – when travelling, moving around the city, or working remotely.
Battery pack chargers often don’t have the ability to charge a laptop.
When you need to charge your laptop on the go or in meetings you have to locate a mains wall socket and are forced to trail cable between your device and the socket
Solution
Stack is the ultimate charging solution for all your devices – smartphone, tablet, and laptop. The power bank – comprising a large battery and a smaller battery – can be used to charge from mains power, or used for charging devices on the go. Together, the Stack batteries can charge a laptop, or the smaller battery can be separated and used as a more compact power solution for smartphones and tablets. The multi-functional charging pack covers the changing needs of a busy user throughout the day.
In detail
nolii is a new lifestyle-focused tech accessories brand for Apple and Android products
The inaugural collection features five key multi-functional products
The collection is available in three finishes
nolii launches in September at Somerset House as part of London Design Festival
layerdesign.com
@layer_design
@benjaminhubert1
nolii.co.uk
@wearenolii
