(Photo: Vikram Valluri)
Hey Eric, can you introduce yourself?
"Well, I'm Eric. I live in San Francisco and I’m a Co-founder of Abodu. When I’m not working or pretending to train for the Tour de France, you can typically find me sipping a beer post-hike."
What is Abodu?
"We build beautiful, well-designed backyard homes for homeowners and families who need more living space. From purchase to permanently-installed-in-your-backyard, the bespoke process of adding an Abodu Studio, Abodu One or Abodu Two to your property takes around 4 months—and includes permitting, off-site construction, delivery, installation, and unparalleled customer satisfaction."
(Photo: Vikram Valluri)
Can you tell us why an Abodu is a place that you would want to permanently live in?
"Love a great leading question…because it’s designed to have everything you need for full-time living. It has an ideal layout, beautiful cathedral ceilings, lots of natural light with windows optimized for privacy, and high-quality materials of natural and industrial origin.
We like to joke- nearly everyone who walks through an Abodu in our Bay Area showroom says something to the effect of “Wow, I didn’t expect it to feel this nice!”
We’ve teamed up with award-winning architects & designers who are great at what they do, and we think it shows."
(Photo: Vikram Valluri)
(Photo: Vikram Valluri)
You’ve described yourself and Abodu as being “ruthlessly thoughtful”. What are some of the similarities in values that you feel KINTO and Abodu have in common?
"There’s something to the joy of high-quality everyday things, like the handle of a KINTO mug, or a handle of a door in an Abodu, that we both share in our products.
Whether it’s the focus on making things equally beautiful AND functional, or the ability to put yourself in the customer’s shoes to try to understand who they are and what they want… I definitely think there’s value alignment there."
What ideas or thoughts were behind your decision in creating a tumbler with KINTO?
"The Abodu + KINTO partnership originally was spun up because our customers were searching for furniture and furnishings to put in their Abodu backyard homes, and they often come to us for recommendations.
The option of an Abodu travel tumbler came up on one of our calls, and it seemed like a good way to showcase the alignment of our brands and bring attention to ways that we can share brands like KINTO with our customers."
(Photo: Vikram Valluri)
One of Abodu’s main objectives is addressing the housing shortage. Where (city, state, etc) have you made the most impact in terms of this ambition?
"To date, we’ve been primarily focused on servicing the San Francisco Bay Area, and we’re happy to say we’re making a dent- however small, relative to a 3.5-million-unit housing deficit in California. One step at a time though."
(Photo: Vikram Valluri)
At KINTO, we want your day to be filled with what inspires you. What inspires Abodu? What inspires you, Eric?
"At Abodu, we’re inspired by our homeowners, who place their trust in us. We’re always grateful for the opportunity when someone chooses to add an Abodu to their home, and we do everything we can to deliver.
For me personally, I’m especially inspired by our early team at Abodu, who are a bunch of rockstars. I’m impressed by them every day.
I’d also say we’re inspired by the possibilities of the road ahead. Our future looks bright, and it feels like we’re just getting started."