This paddle strays away from tradition

The thing with game equipment is that you can’t radically push the design to be better because it offers a competitive advantage. There’s a reason the racquet, or the football is shaped the way it is. It isn’t to make the game easier, it’s to present a challenge. However, I’d like to believe there’s still an opportunity to redesign these products, even if just for recreational playing. Take a look at the table tennis paddle for instance. I for one (as a self-proclaimed amateur) don’t know which way to hold it. Additionally, for a game that can go on for hours, the paddle isn’t particularly ergonomic, with its cylindrical handle.

Coconut Paddles V2 challenges that. In its second iteration, the V2 gives the table tennis paddle a radical grip makeover that doesn’t just encourage you to hold it the right way, but even dramatically improves your strokes, and its non-cylindrical design means it’ll never slip out of your hand in the middle of a game. The unusual shape even allows you to (and this may be purely recreational) spin the paddle around your finger, like you would a revolver before putting it back into a holster… although a little theatrics only makes the game worth watching, no?

Designer: Coconut Paddles

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Sarang Sheth
Sarang is the co-editor in chief of Yanko Design. He is a former industrial designer at a Bangalore-based multidisciplinary design studio, working in areas including appliances, FMCG, packaging, technology, luxury, etc. Sarang has written about design and technology for over a decade and has been a jury member on international design awards. He occasionally works on tech concepts featured on Forbes, The Verge, Hypebeast, Digital Trends, SlashGear, Tom's Guide, LetsGoDigital, and Unbox Therapy. Sarang graduated from MIT Institute of Design, Pune.