Heather Miller
Check out Sample Studio’s design process behind Chillshark, a device that can turn any tub into a plunge pool.
Light bulb moments can happen anywhere—even over tacos.
Tyler Anderson and Ryan Krause first started working together on school projects while studying industrial design at Brigham Young University, learning tools like Keyshot and Autodesk Fusion along the way. “We both downloaded Fusion because it’s free for students, and I thought, ‘Wow, they really care about us,’” Anderson says.
At the time, there were a few design communities where people shared work, but it was mainly hand sketching. Both Ryan and Tyler felt that renders should get more attention. While at a taco shop, that light bulb moment happened.
“We were having lunch, and thought, ‘Hey, we should start our own community,” Anderson says. And with that, Render Weekly was born. All their designer friends responded to their first prompt on Instagram. Their account took off and now has more than 189,000 followers.
Elevate your design and manufacturing processes with Autodesk Fusion
“We tapped into a niche and something that people obviously wanted to exist, and Render Weekly blew up,” Anderson says. “We grew to 40,000 followers in the first year. In our third year, some of the team at Herman Miller were huge fans and did a collaboration with us. It was so unreal, and it’s been really fun.”
Over the years, Render Weekly has continued to flourish, highlighting quality renders from designers around the world using any tool. But the partnership of Anderson and Krause didn’t stop there.
After different industrial design roles and pursuits over the years, they decided to team up on their own and founded Sample Studio. Even from their early days in college, Autodesk Fusion remains a core component of their design process. Based in Los Angeles, the two combine their expertise in design and 3D visualization to bring ideas to life—from GoBe lunch boxes to their latest collaboration with Chillshark.
Innovating a new approach to cold plunging
A true cold plunge experience is immersing in 45-55 degree Fahrenheit water—or even down to 37 degrees for more experienced plungers—for 1-5 minutes. But why? It’s actually known for numerous health benefits, including improved circulation, reduced inflammation, accelerated muscle recovery, and enhanced mental clarity. However, making it a part of a routine can be inconvenient, expensive, and time-consuming—whether it’s installing a bulky plunge pool at home or driving to the gym.
Chillshark was co-founded by Keegan O’Connor and Brandon Sloan, who bring complementary backgrounds. O’Connor has a history in entrepreneurship and sales, while Sloan comes from a private equity and investment banking background advising consumer product businesses. Both were collegiate athletes—O’Connor played lacrosse, and Sloan played soccer—so they’ve long understood the benefits of cold therapy for recovery and wellness.
However, Chillshark’s motivation extended beyond athletics. O’Connor discovered cold plunging as an essential tool for nervous system regulation. He simply couldn’t find an accessible cold plunge solution, especially for those in apartments or homes without space for a dedicated tub.
O’Connor and Sloan teamed up to see how they could solve this cold plunge challenge with a product that could turn any tub into a plunge pool. They went through a lot of ideas until Sloan found the solution in his own living room.
“One morning, I came downstairs and looked over at the couch,” he says. “It’s that classic look where the blanket is folded and draping over the top of the couch. I called Keegan immediately and said, ‘I got it!’ And we were off to the races.”
Taking the plunge
Chillshark’s innovative design includes a flexible mat that integrates seamlessly with the chiller unit, allowing water to circulate efficiently for an optimized cold plunge experience. There’s even a phone app to start the chilling process and set preferences.
But it was a journey to get to this final design. At the very beginning, O’Connor and Sloan enlisted Sample Studio to help make their idea a reality. From initial concept iterations to prototyping and final handoff for engineering, Fusion was essential for the development of Chillshark.
“When we started out, the mat idea was sacred, but we needed to rethink some of the assumptions of how to integrate it,” Anderson says. “After prototyping and renderings, we quickly moved into refinement and nailing down a form for higher fidelity prototypes. This was a good spot where Fusion and Rhino played really nicely together. Ryan owned a lot of the mechanical chiller CAD that’s easy with Fusion to use the history tree and adjust parameters based on sizing. Then, I was able to do the flexible mat and tubing design in Rhino. Since they are all STP files, we can easily move back and forth between the two.”
“Fusion’s ability to handle precise parametric modeling was important,” Krause adds. “Especially when working on the mechanical elements, making adjustments to dimensions and components was incredibly easy.”
Sloan witnessed first-hand how the design process wasn’t simply an aesthetic exercise. “It wasn’t just them designing something that looked good; they truly were designing it with an engineering mindset as well,” he says. “They were delivering on the design, but also making sure it’s something that can be built and work. That is definitely easier said than done.”
With the design completed, Chillshark partnered with a product development firm to engineer the cooling systems in detail. “Together, we developed an amazing proprietary chilling system and were even able to maintain our design intent, which was mind-blowing,” Anderson says. “I couldn’t believe how nicely the concept translated into the final product. Usually, we have to make some sacrifices and do a little bit more pushing and pulling.”
For Krause, Fusion is indispensable with flexibility—and affordability—built into the product. For the ventilation of Chillshark, he could immediately access a generative pattern tool with Autodesk Flex.
“What’s really great about Fusion’s pricing structure is the fact that I can have a small team license, but you can buy a more advanced feature for even just a day,” Krause says. “If I was using SolidWorks or anything else, it would be thousands of dollars. With Fusion, you can just buy it when you need it—and not pay for it when you don’t.”
“Fusion is an incredible, full-suite CAD software where you can design anything you want in it. But you can also take that design into manufacturing, and it becomes real.”
– Ryan Krause, Co-founder, Sample Studio
Looking to the future
Now preparing for a full commercial launch, Chillshark is poised to make cold plunge therapy more accessible to home users. In January, they made their official debut at CES in Las Vegas, drawing attention from both industry leaders and tech enthusiasts alike.
“It was kind of crazy to be around Samsung, LG, and these multi-billion-dollar companies at the show with our product right there next to them,” Sloan says. “A number of designers came around and said, ‘Wow, you guys have solved the cold plunge. You made it look good and like something that people would want to own. We have been trying to figure it out, and you guys figured it out.’ So it’s just really cool to hear things like that.”
Now, the company is in the midst of a highly anticipated crowdfunding campaign that launched on Kickstarter on March 18th. This campaign is not just a funding opportunity—it’s a chance to invite early adopters into the Chillshark community and experience the product at an exclusive early-bird discount.
Getting to this point of the journey is one that many early consumer product and hardware start-ups never reach. For Sloan, the early decision to bring Sample Studio into the fold was a critical one.
“Obviously, we had this idea in our heads, but Sample Studio was able to provide so much clarity around how it would actually work, what it would look like, how to build it, and the type of parts and where to get them from,” he says. “That’s something you need early on when all you have is your conviction and the insanity of being a hardware founder and going after something. If you’re starting out, you need this logic that your product can actually work, and you can actually do this.”
With Fusion, Sample Studio could deliver on that promise to help make Chillshark a reality.