Many Years of Making...
I'm Mike Cecot-Scherer, owner and operator of TheTentLab. I've been employed in the specialty outdoor industry since 1976 and I’ve been a designer professionally since 1985. I’ve made a great many things, but I’ve always liked designing tents best. My current lifetime total stands at 266 tents and more are in the works.
Ever since I was a kid, I've hiked & skied & backpacked & climbed and biked and made stuff for those activities. My sensibilities for evaluating and improving gear are based on personal use (including many parts of the world other than the US), discussions with others about how they use their gear, and more than basic knowledge of how stuff works (a degree in Physics from UC Berkeley has been helpful). My experience includes 10 years in retail, 16 years as the in-house designer for Kelty, and 17 years of freelance design. Tempering my natural opinionatedness is a large and ever-growing respect of the ingenious and surprisingly self-consistent systems that other users have developed; proving that no matter how great a product is, there is no perfect product for everyone.
Oh yeah, here's my blog (but we've been too busy to update it in quite a while because we're so dang busy): http://thetentlab.blogspot.com
As a resumé of sorts, here's the simple list of what I've worked on* but please note that these products were tasked with specific requirements that embody the vision, sensibilities and immediate needs of their respective brands and the employees who manage and sell them. That’s what being a professional product designer is about – helping the client fulfill THEIR vision. As a rule, for every product that was made, there were other options - from conservative to radical - that were considered behind the scenes. Here’s what came to market.
| TENTS Novel Technologies: EYE-pole tents Continuous sleeve intersections Vaulted and X-Sleeves FlyBoy™ WebForce™ Photochromatic PU window Triptease LightLine™ Super Cord StakeTape™ Artful prebending Dual diameter poles Dual material poles Close/wide tent clip Enforced warp hub Twist clips Patents: 7,997,292 (Sugar Shack structure) 7,766,023 (EYE pole) 6,866,055 (X-truss sleeves): 6,470,901 (FlyBoy) 5,080,119 (sewn joint) 4,827,958 4,745,936 (LeverLock) GossamerGear: The One The Two GoLite: Imogene 2 & 3 Wolf Creek 2 & 3 THE NORTH FACE: Aguila 23, 33 Kings Canyon 2, 3 & 4 Tadpole FL 2 Talus (2014/2015) 2, 3, 4 MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR: Meridian 2 SuperMegaUL 2 Archer 2 MARMOT: EOS 1 & 2 EarlyLight Twilight 2, & 3 Halo 4 & 6 Pulsar 1 & 2 Eclipse 2 & 3 TICLA: Teahouse 2, 3 & 4 Tortuga 3, 4 Mojave 4 Easton: Cache 4 & 6 Cache annex 4, 6 Kilo Carbon 2 2014 Kinetic Carbon 3 Si2 Cuben 5 Owls: Ranger Solo Shelter EMS: Star 2 Eclipse 2 Escape 2 & 4 Switch Shelter System Pallas 4 & 6 Velocity 1, 2 & 3 Alpin 2 Sugar Shack 2 & 3 BLACK DIAMOND: Vista Mesa Mirage Oasis Stormtrack 2 & 3 SylvanSport: Go (tent) Brooks-Range: Rocket Invasion Propel Propel 2D Foray SIERRA DESIGNS: Stretch Domocile Clip Flashlight Snow Dragon S-Dome Expedition Rainfly Night Owl & Net Owl Crystal Dome Mountain Hut Meteor Light Comet Basecamp AeroSpace MeteorLight 2, 3, 4, 6, shelter VaporLight 1 & 2 Lightning 1, 2, 3 & 4 Wu-Hu 4 & 6 Wu-Hu Annex 4 & 6 Mountain Meteor 2 & 3 Lightning Strike 2 Veranda 2 & 3 KELTY: Windfoil II & III Jetstream Windfoil Light & Breeze Triple Crown New Wave Taj Mahal Microfoil Windfoil Ultralight Aerie Nautilus Conness 4 Switchback 2 & 4 Domolite, 2, 4, 6 (2 generations) Quattro, 2, 4 & 6 (3 generations) Ridge Rock 9, 12 Sunshade + mini, maxi, big Al Castle Rock 4 & 6 Magic Wand Double Fork Kingston Expedition 2 Zen Big Bend 6 Vortex 2, 4, 6 Typhoon 2, 3 Cyclone 2, 3 Streamside 2, 4 Paradise 2, 4 Ruby 2, 4 Canyon Ridge 2, 4 Campsite 2, 4 Kashmir 2, 4 Yellowstone 7, 8, 10 Grand Canyon 9, 11 Jetstream II Riverbend 2 & 4 Assault Aero 2 Dart 1, 2 Tao 2 Ledge Mantra 2, 3, 5, 6, & 7 Valhalla 5, 7 Nirvana 4 Raptor 2 Clark Tent Ledge 2 X-1, X-2 Crestone 1, 2 Gunnison 2, 4 Sage 2 Silver Moon Quartz 1, 2, 4 Radiant 2, 3 Orb 2, 3 Pagoda 4, 6 Stick 1 Sawtooth 2 Ridge 2 Pagosa 2, 4 Corrie 1, 2 Ouray 2, 3 Shiro 4 & 6 Eve 2 & 3 Presidio 6 Palisade 4, 6 Eden 4 BHA: eVENT eTent Exxel: Bristlecone Sequoia Pinion 2, 3 | PACKS Novel Technologies: Lockdown adjustment system Levitators LightBeam stay EVAporator suspension parts CloudLock adjustable suspension molded foams and fabrics Rams' Horn perimeter frame LiteRail adjustment system Patents: 6,378,176 (zipper track) 5,704,530 (modular & Levitator) 5,465,886 "Scherer Cinch" 4,842,173 (radial frame) GoLite: Quest Packs 50, 65, 80, M & W MARK PACK WORKS: Ski Mountaineer KELTY: Pod Packs TL & PL Ski Mountaineer Alpinist, 2 generations Megaton Track Pack Tawnee, 2 generations Red Cloud, 2 generations Arapaho, 2 generations STF 3000, 4000, 5000 Adjustable 4000, 5000 White Phantom, 2 generations White Cloud Radial Sherpa XLT Radial Light XLT Women's Radial Light XLT Renegade Cragger SlickRock (BACKPACKER design award) Zuni Telluride Silverton Mesa Grande LaSal Durango Dune White Rim Poacher Yo-Yo Coyote Junior Coyote Appalachian Cheyenne Continental Divide WayBack Cheyenne Ute Montauk Outback Lunch Sack Voyager Trailhead Zip-Zaps Collegiate Vagabond Wyndham Melbourne Brisbane Arete CarryOn Garment Bag Metro Deluxe duffel Trans Cart Wheelie Carry-On Shuttle Big Rolling Duffel Radial Series, 3 generations Cirque Rubber Ducky Lightwing Bigfoot West Coast Super Tioga Flight 50th Anniversary (BACKPACKER design award) Haiku Satori (OUTSIDE design award) Norrøna: Consulting on Synkron Packs | SLEEPING BAGS Novel Technologies: Molten warmth construction (down) SoftTouch construction (synthetic) Paisley Wrap Construction Patent: 4,884,303 (Soft Touch construction, the very first stretch bag patent) KELTY: Soft Touch Series (synthetic) 3 generations Evolution series (down) Genesis (down) Serrano series (synthetic) Something Completely Different: GSI Outdoors: Ultralight Drip Coffee Maker Brollies: Unique Umbrella What else? More than passing knowledge in: Fabrics, Sewing & Patterning Metals & fabrication Plastics & fabrication 3D CAD Mechanical engineering Desktop publishing Marketing & Sales |
| Obviously I've done a crazy number of tents. I like them. Other products I've worked on include: injection molded parts (quite a few); a water meter for hydration bladders; a lightweight stove system; battery powered LED Christmas lights (AKA Twinklers); two high-end pens; boots and insoles; snowshoes; gloves and the | ||
| * "Worked on" means anything from patterning to engineering the structure, to styling, to troubleshooting; usually I did all the stuff that gets lumped under the heading "design". | ||