Who We Are
We are outdoors enthusiasts making products we want to use and we hope you will to. Experience in the outdoors is what drives our designs. Our mission is to create a high quality tent that provides the ultimate comfort and versatility. The Opeongo slogan “Gravity can’t keep us down” extends past AERIAL A1, meaning the sky's the limit for both design and adventure.
The company was founded on a strong passion for both design and the outdoors. Co-founders Andrew Gardner and Jacob Campbell are hands on Industrial Designers with more than 12 years of outdoor equipment development experience. They are also two guys who really know their way around a sewing machine.
In 2011 while working as designers for the performance PFD brand SALUS, Jacob and Andrew met. With their common love for camping, canoeing and active sports they embarked on designing what is now known as the AERIAL A1.
Origin Story
The original concept of the A1 slackline suspension system was dreamt up in 2014 for a school project. Jacob, an avid backcountry camper, was unhappy with his conversion from a traditional ground tent to his first hammock setup. He went on to purchase several different styles but was never fully satisfied as he was a stomach sleeper and could never get properly comfortable, along with the issue of the hammock swaying and providing cramped shoulder space. When he was asked to develop a product for his International Baccalaureate Design and Technology program he decided to tackle this issue and designed the first-ever, flat laying, stable, hammock tent. The concept was crude but an amazing success and cemented his belief that he wanted to become a designer. In 2015 he enrolled in a Bachelor of Industrial Design at Humber College with the dream to develop camping products.
Our sincere thanks to all who supported us.
On April 22, 2020 we launched the AERIAL A1 on Kickstarter. Within 24h the project was fully funded, we went on to get the coveted “Project We Love” designation by kickstarter which helped us massively surepass our expectations. Well over 700 backers from around the world help support our dream and we can thank them enough.
