What happens when you apply outside-the-box thinking to an inside-the-box challenge?
The inside-the-box challenge, in this case, is the magnetic compass. Once a vital tool for navigation in the days before satellites and the Global Positioning System, the magnetic compass of our modern era is something that hikers will carry as a backup. That backup status is conveyed in their modern design, which more often than not, means something that has been assembled from inexpensive plastic components. If they look cheap, it's because they are cheap. What was an indispensable tool has become disposable.
But what if it wasn't a throwaway item? Oceanus Brass' Victoria Warren systematically thought through every element of the magnetic compass and came up with the Lodestar Compass, elevates almost every one of the aspects of a magnetic compass into something that's anything but disposable. The following video, created for its Kickstarter campaign, showcases the Lodestar Compass as a high quality, functional device.
Some might call it overengineered, but it cannot be denied that every aspect of its design has been thought through and the result is something that will have and keep real value.
Warren's Kickstarter campaign has several days left to go at this writing, but the project has been successfully funded and Oceanus Brass' Lodestar Compass will be produced. The campaign will run through 15 October 2026.