You can’t exactly fit a canoe through a narrow staircase in an apartment building, let alone take it on the metro, so for many sporty city dwellers, owning one may seem out of reach. Many canoes are so bulky, you can barely find enough space for them in a suburban garage. Playing with an origami canoe made of paper one day, Ghent-based designer Otto Van De Steene wondered whether a similar folding method translated to a sturdy, seaworthy material could help him get out onto the water more often. The result is ‘ONAK,’ a portable canoe that folds down to the size of a suitcase.

Working at an outdoor recreation store, Van De Steene had seen plenty of other portable canoe designs that he found lacking. “You have the canoes that have really good performance on the water – they’re fast, but they’re quite heavy and take an hour to assemble. Nothing to do in an evening after work.”

The Oru folding kayak had recently debuted, offering an intriguing possible solution, but Van De Steene thought its corrugated plastic construction could use an upgrade, and chose a custom-made polypropylene for his own design, explaining that it’s lighter and stiffer, improving the boat’s performance. About ten times as strong as standard polypropylene, the honeycomb-core composite material is also highly durable and fully recyclable.

“By making hundreds of paper models and fifteen real prototypes, we also refined the design of our patent pending hull. This was a huge challenge due to the limitations of origami. We opted for a narrow and fast canoe design that keeps its momentum very well, while still being delightfully easy and stable to maneuver for beginners.”

The Onak may not fold down quite as small as Oru, but putting it on wheels makes it easier to haul around. From its compact 47”x15.7”x10” roller case, it expands to 183” long by 33.5” wide, and can carry about 440 pounds. There’s enough room inside for two adults, a child and gear. The process of assembling or packing up the portable canoe takes about ten minutes.

With just a couple days left on its Kickstarter campaign, the Onak has met its goal, but you can still snag one for significantly less than retail cost if you back the project in time. It’ll sell for about $1450 with two paddles once it hits the market.

City dwellers are making do with smaller and smaller spaces these days, but that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice style and function. From bathroom fittings that clamp onto a towel bar to luggage-like portable kitchens and even furniture that folds down as small as a notebook, these 12 clever designs for compact spaces make the most of the limited square footage that tiny apartments have to offer.

Bathroom in a Box

Inspired by the cabins on ships, this wooden all-in-one bathroom design looks like a wardrobe when it’s closed, but opens to reveal a sink, mirror, towel holders, drawers and shelves for all of your toiletries. It’s small enough to fit inside most standard bathrooms, so the only other items you need are a toilet and shower.

Simplify: Flexible Bathroom Fittings

A space-saving set that’s easy to adapt to virtually any existing bathroom, the ‘Simplify’ set by Groupworks slots small accessories onto a special towel bar to keep them up out of the way. There’s a soap dish, a vessel for small items like rings, and a larger box that can hold toothbrushes and combs.

Make the Most of Balcony Space

Even apartment dwellers who are lucky enough to get access to a balcony usually don’t have enough space for tables and chairs, planters and clothes drying racks all at once. The ’Sigh’ set by Spanish designer Pola Clapés is made specifically for such small outdoor spaces and includes tables in three sizes, a three-tier hanging planter and a clothesline, all of which easily hook onto a standard railing.

Luggage-Like Modular Kitchen Set

Literally any space with plumbing and a bathroom can become a studio apartment with the addition of the ‘Gali’ module by designer Ana Arana, which makes most basic kitchen functions portable. Four luggage-like modules come together to offer an induction cooktop, refrigerator, sink, drawers and a combination prep/dining table. The idea is that single people who do minimal cooking can just take their kitchen with them from one living space to another, and don’t have to sacrifice precious square footage for functions they don’t need.

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Smart Style For Small Spaces 12 Compact Sets Modules

Few folding bikes can boast such compact proportions (even when fully collapsed) as this umbrella-sized wonder you can sling at your side or slide into your shoulder bag.

The Sada Bike bends the basic assumptions of bicycle design, but not in the same fashion as small-bike solutions. Instead of reducing the size of essential elements, which creates an awkward riding experience, Sada trades a rigid chassis and support-providing spokes for a jointed lightweight frame and reinforced rims that require less material.

Experienced engineers will note their solution is not without its own unsolved questions, including the impact of putting weight along the edges of empty (even if rigid) wheel frames.

Still, it is a start – while their may be balance and durability issues yet to address, the concept calls into question the premises behind existing standard, miniature and foldable bikes and pushes the potential limits of urban portability.

In critique of other existing approaches, Sada’s creators note: “They have a small frame and wheels at the expense of stability, for the sake of compactness and portability during transport. The minimum size of the frame, in fact, penalizes the rider position while driving and the small size of the wheels significantly are affected by variations in terrain. On the other hand, the traditional bicycles, avoid these problems, but the rigid chassis makes them inflexible during transport on public transport.”