The record-breaking invention launches their Kickstarter campaign after having received a £60,000 innovation prize from the UK’s Design Council.

The ‘easy-change’ duvet cover, created by designers Ben King and Luke Gray, differs from traditional designs with a revolutionary opening where the duvet can be easily tucked inside without any need to wrestle the sheets - significantly saving time and energy.

Tell us about the founders behind the brand?

Luke and I are both product designers and always have been. Not just in our careers, but right back into our childhoods. Luke would make intricate mechanical go-karts and I spent my weekends building a three-tier treehouse.

Design comes naturally to us both. That said, we share a fierce work ethic and have worked for a number of leading brands like Samsung, Unilever and Joseph Joseph. It was after having worked for brands like these for seven years that we knew we had to launch Koa.

There are many different types of product designers, but we are both hands-on makers who love ideas. For us, it’s not enough to make beautiful products. They need to solve a problem and be inventive too.

What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?

We've designed all sorts of products. From toys to help kids learn to code to a cleaner and more hygienic toilet brush. Between us, we've launched 32 successful products, won many awards and nominations, including TIME Best Invention of The Year award.

We share a love of design that makes a meaningful difference to people’s lives. Our belief is that the best products solve the day-to-day niggles people hate. We think there’s something delightful in that!

A problem we’ve both faced is that the biggest design companies see most established products as ‘off-limits’ for reinvention. It’s an ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ mindset, the problem is we just disagree. We don’t think anything should be off-limits for reinvention.

Koa was born out of necessity. There are problems we want to solve that other companies aren’t interested in. Add to that, we both feel the entrepreneurial itch. It comes from a deep sense of pride in what we do. So much so that we want to do it for ourselves.

What inspired our first product?

We start a project by looking for problems to solve. Waiting for that moment when you realise a daily frustration doesn’t have to exist.

Inspiration struck when we found out Luke’s Grandma could no longer fit a duvet cover. She was having to get her daughter to do it for her. But it’s not just Luke’s gran. Our research showed us that bed sheets were the perfect product for Koa to reinvent. Changing the sheets is one of the most hated chores we all have to do.

Our aim became to make fresh sheets easier for everyone. But if you look into it, this is a product category that has remained virtually unchanged for nearly 5,000 years! If you take a walk through the bedding aisle, the only glimmer of creativity you’ll see is in the colour and fabric. Talk about stale bedsheets!

How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?

Creativity, design, new ideas - these aren’t just our businesses values. It’s who we are.

Our competitive advantage is our experience in inventive product development, we have been lucky to learn from some of the best brands and creatives in the design industry. Our designs have sold millions and even changed the way people think about day-to-day tasks.

So Koa will never launch a ‘me too’ product. We won’t launch one product and then get lazy like some companies. We already have future products in development.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?

We’re a product business, the number one thing we’ve learnt is the value of inventive products. The Koa Cover has generated its own excitement. We are solving a problem people hate. People find the sheer simplicity of the product irresistible.

A product that solves a problem in that way it tells its own story. These stories can be used for marketing, on packaging, for sales teams and they resonate with customers emotions.

What are your thoughts on failure?

As a designer you get very acquainted with failure. Ideas you have in your mind get you excited, but then for one reason or another, they won’t work out. It’s deflating but it’s part of the design process. You take the idea that didn’t work, you iterate, you keep going.

That said, if the business were to die tomorrow we’d have learnt so much about business building. I know I’ve broadened my knowledge. Whatever happens, we will never think of this venture as a failure.

If you could be in a room with four entrepreneurs, who would they be and why?

My heroes are born out of the design world and probably sound cliche. But any designer who makes their way into the public consciousness is extraordinary.

Elon Musk: The scale of his ambition and his achievements to date blow my mind. An incredible inventor.

James Dyson: He is an inventor who rethinks the products we use every day. (one of his first products was a wheelbarrow).

Steve Jobs: Anyone who can launch multiple billion-dollar companies (Apple and Pixar) is clearly talented. He had an amazing vision.

David Kelly: He was my hero when I studied design at university. He’s the founder of a design firm IDEO, they built an approach to product development which influenced our bedding development.

What plans do you have for Koa over the next two years?

We are already working on our next product, the world's best fitted sheet.

Our goal is to launch a new product every six months that will then go straight into production and be sold directly to consumers from our own store.

We love design that delights, that includes fabric designs. We developed some stunning designs with Kitty McCall who is a sensational designer. In the future, our online store will be a destination for trends, interiors and inventive products. I have this vision of a store filled with products that are an intersection between beautiful product design and beautiful artwork.

How did you fund the launch of your business and what creative strategies did you use to execute a minimal cash flow?

We have both been working part-time to fund Koa over the last two years but the big break for us was a grant from the UK’s Design Council.

It is so challenging self-funding a business. At times we knew £5K would have made a huge difference to our plans. After 18 months of self-funding Koa we were desperate to find a grant to help get us started. If you have a breakthrough technology or software there are a lot of grants available, but our passion is reinventing the products we use every day.

We found only one scheme that our easy-change duvet cover was applicable too: The Design Council’s Spark Fund. They have an initial £15K grant as you join a business training programme and then you pitch for another portion of £150K.

We were up against a lot of high-tech products. But, we managed to be one of ten businesses selected from over 300 for the program. When it came to pitching for funding, we gave it everything.

Our inventive duvet cover was one of the program winners, they gave us a further £45K! We are so grateful, and I really wish there were more small grants available to UK businesses. Now we know how valuable these grants can be, it's become a shared dream of ours to one day support burgeoning inventive designers.

How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?

It is a mental rollercoaster. We are confident designers, but naturally cautious about creating a business. We have friends who have helped us out and believed in us before we had much to show and that has been a huge boost.

Winning the Design Council Spark program was a boost for sure. To receive feedback from people like Deborah Meaden saying she believed in our business - we needed that.

What keeps us going through moments of doubt now is that it works. The product is real and it’s actually really good and people want it. More recently we’ve started working with the best bedding factories in the world in Portugal. Getting their support was a huge boost. They don’t work on anything but the very best bedding. Seeing how they got excited to work with us and create our product has been inspiring.

How do you believe the evolution of tech will affect your industry over the next 10 years?

We are excited to learn more about building our webstore. We have been speaking to fulfilment and marketing partners. I want to learn how we can automate and outsource certain aspects of our business.

Facebook adverts have a bad reputation with consumers and are getting expensive. But they can also empower niche creative businesses. We had a friend launch a scientific desk toy and was able to find and market to his audience with Facebook adverts. The sheer depth of audience targeting could prove valuable to us.

It’s going to be an interesting space to watch.

What was the most challenging aspect of launching Koa?

We have seen a lot of product startups fail when trying to find a factory to manufacture their product competitively. You can have a brilliant design, but a bad factory will mean a poor quality product. The best factories can help you deliver the best products.

We knew we had a lot to learn here, how do you find a good factory? How should we approach them?

Maybe because we were nervous we worked hard at it. We also had some great help from a friend. Now we can say the bedding factories we have partnered with are a real asset to our business plan. They are over in Portugal and we love visiting them. We’re now confident that the quality of our finished products will rival anything on the market.