Stormberry
This design release was intended for the beginning of 2022, as an intermission to what we're building in the Weatherman Line, but here we are. Our final release of 2021, and — at least for us — a nostalgic callback to where we began.
This is the Stormberry.
SPECS
dia 56.4mm
wid 48.9mm
weight 63.9g
material 7068 AL / SS
Our first design, the Cloudberry, was designed in early 2020 to be our dream organic. A nice, comfortable, and even fat profile that played light yet powerful, so it could stand up to the rigours of modern play whilst retaining its organic soul. The Thunderberry was released later as a heavier variant that sported a bit more torque and heft, and departed slightly from its lighter, floatier origins. Now, the Stormberry – the third and possibly final installation of the Berries – takes another step towards that design aspiration of light power.
We’ve been working on the Stormberry since late 2020, and just about a year on, we’re happy to finally share this with you.
There is considerable weight behind the opinion that a bimetal construction defeats the purpose of an organic. From a purist’s perspective, I can understand that view, as organics generally embody a type of play that doesn’t necessarily emphasise spin power, stability, or clinical precision – and leans towards, perhaps, what some might find the more artistic, rhythmic, or experimental. The A-RT Grail, One Drop Markmont Classic, and CLYW Peak are amongst many other of these classical organics that I feel embody that purism. In my opinion, our yet-unreleased design, the Noah, would find its place amongst these.
That purism isn’t something we’re attempting to dispute – with the Stormberry, we just pulled on a thread of inspiration and we really enjoyed where we ended up with that.
The original Cloudberry playfeel was actually partially inspired by CLYW’s Akita, Mark Mangarin’s signature return top, despite it possessing a very different frame. I was captured by the way it felt on the string, and I thought it represented the best of CLYW’s storied history and more modern directions. It was an extremely comfortable design, and it was also celebrated for being competition-capable. Given the Akita’s long-held place in our sandbox of references, it felt natural that we’d one day create an iteration of the Berry that paid homage to it.
To get the Stormberry lighter and still yet more powerful, we wanted to lose some mass in the mid-areas, pack on some muscle at the rims, all the while reducing its overall weight. Our vision of the Stormberry necessitated that it came in leaner than its two Berry brothers.
The Cloudberry comes in at 64g, and is relatively evenly weighted. The Thunderberry is about a gram more at 64.9g, with the extra meat applied onto the rims. For the Stormberry, we reduced its walls to its minimal viable thickness, which gave us room for nice, thick stainless steel rims without having to inflate its weight. It comes in at 63.9g, which makes it the lightest of the Berries, but also the most powerful.
Clocking that weight is significant, given it sports a full frame of 56.4mm (d) and 48.9mm (w).
It’s external profile looks nearly identical to its Berry brothers, but it’s got an entirely new engine under the hood. Anyone who has thrown a Cloudberry or Thunderberry would find the Stormberry familiar in-hand, and might be pleasantly surprised at the additional torque it has without sacrificing any manoeuvrability. It moves and feels even lighter than its weight might suggest.
In any conversation on bimetal organics, special mention must also be made to Damian Puckett’s Duality. I came across the design earlier in the year and picked one up from him directly in September, and loved it almost immediately. It’s difficult not to love Damian’s designs. The resounding sentiment surrounding the Duality is that it is a competition return top disguised as an organic. It definitely plays that way – It comes in at 64g, but has more torque than that spec implies – and elicits our highest recommendations.
The Stormberry project began as a third-act to our Berry series within the Fruitbowl Line, and we ended up with what we feel might be the final installation in our light power organic designs. There are no plans to extend it further, given our sense that this might be it, possibly the furthest we can push it – the Berry with the most juice.
Quick notes on kit:
The Stormberry comes fitted with these clear-grey response pads that came with our earlier models. The Cloudberries, Pomelos and Gojis come with these. They are slightly harder than our own Saturn Pads, and require some break-in time before they become fully grippy. The Stormberry has a wider gap width, and plays its best when its response pads have been given some love.
The Stormberry also comes with Zipline String’s Case Study 50s. They are premium in quality, last long, and are incredibly comfortable. Our models are now designed with this particular string type in mind, so we very literally cannot recommend it more as an ideal pairing.
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If you’ve stayed with us till the end of this long post – and the end of this crazy year, too – thank you. Genuinely. 2021 has been a ride, and we’re grateful we’re still in this process of making things that bring joy through play. The love you consistently show us gives us that little extra to keep going.
More to come in 2022.
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december 2021
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