Beginnings
Born in Joensuu FINLAND, Zoy’s founder - Krista Kinnunen – displayed a special interest in innovation from a very young age. While fascinated working in marketing and within the jewelry industry, Krista showed even more interest in the area of new business development. It was clear that when Krista decided to leave the jewelry factory she would start her own company. This is the origin of Zoy Oy.
In January 2016, Krista sat in a dark living room and thought: “It really would be nice to give my firstborn a few useful instructions for life and a message that, ‘Mother loves you so very much’”.
“I thought about how I could record that moment and those thoughts. How could that specific message be saved and replayed, or even survive for generations? What kind of device could it be? What if someone finds it in a dusty attic – would they automatically know how to use it? Should it have charging ports, or would they just be out-of-date before someone found it?”
Family and work
Krista and her husband Tero took the Soundlocket® concept forward for the first years. While occupied with their new technology idea, they welcomed their first child in 2017 and their second in 2018. Developing new tech while raising two babies was not always an easy task. The small ones often joined their parents at tech meetings all over Finland. Sometimes there would be situations where at least one baby was being rocked in a pram while important decisions were being made about the direction in which the patented technology would be taken. As previously mentioned, not always an easy task, but very rewarding personally and for the family.
A first Soundlocket® attempt was produced in 2017. It didn’t look anything close to its current appearance and was not particularly as durable as hoped. However, Krista knew such a product would fill a near universal need and she kept moving forward.
Designer Harri Koskinen
Krista has long admired the clean lines of Scandinavian – and particularly, Finnish – design. She reached out to the respected and award-winning designer Harri Koskinen and explained the idea behind Soundlocket®. Koskinen fell in love with the concept and delivered the first sketches for an updated Soundlocket® the same year.
Challenges
Before the first functional prototype of Soundlocket® was completed, the company faced numerous technology-related challenges related to the product’s size and power requirements. As Soundlocket® is an original concept, its technology and structure had to be built from scratch. Several partners attempted to find viable solutions, but ultimately, they couldn’t construct Soundlocket®. After an extensive search process and some fortunate occurrences, the right people joined the team and were able to find solutions to our technology and design challenges. Soundlocket® began to take shape.
Watchmaker Kari Voutilainen
In May 2020, as Krista savored breakfast in front of the TV, she came across a program featuring the renowned Finnish watchmaker, Kari Voutilainen. Recognizing him as the ideal person to elevate Soundlocket® into a luxury item, she contacted Kari, introduced him to Soundlocket®, and, like everyone from designers to developers to investors, he fell in love with the concept.
”The mechanical mechanism in use is rare nowadays and it lasts from one generation to the next. Soundlocket® is an excellent Idea and I want to support and be involved in such an excellent project.”
Read more about Kari Voutilainen
First working prototype
After years of development and a difficult trial-and-error phase, the first working prototype was completed in 2021. Soundlocket® turned out to be a very reliable and sustainable object.
The first version of Soundlocket® was robust, had been simplified and only had the bare minimum of specs. However, it worked exactly as it should. Later that same year, a second generation of Soundlocket® was completed which was significantly better in both design and technology.
Soundlocket® is ready
We sincerely hope that every Soundlocket® sold lives up to the promise of providing long-lasting power to heirloom, representing the owner’s desire to safeguard sounds associated with memories that matter. We guarantee to use only the highest quality sustainable materials in the construction of these carefully crafted, limited supply products.
