For city dwellers, owning a bulky canoe is a logistical nightmare. That’s why Belgium-based paddling enthusiasts Otto Van De Steene and Thomas Weyn created the Onak, a full-size vessel that can be unfolded from the form of a rolling suitcase in roughly 10 minutes. At 37 lb. (17 kg), it’s light enough to lug up a staircase. But it’s made of a multilayer composite plastic that’s strong enough to crack through an inch of ice. The first batch of the Kickstarter-funded canoes should be delivered by March 2017, and Van De Steene says he and Weyn have plans to push the “origami and waterproof” concept even further.
–Julia Zorthian
This appears in the August 22, 2016 issue of TIME.
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