Nexy Designer Diary

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

All posts forwarded from another TT forum,where Nexy has posted.

I find all the posts really interesting,and I hope you will too.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

NEXY’S BLADE DESIGN HISTORY

Nexy’s web domain is very simple and easy to remember.
It’s difficult to find a good four-letter domain name for a brand these days.
I bought and registered the domain back in 2002.
I dreamt of opening a new brand with that name for many years, and finally in 2009, I launched www.Nexy.com.

1. FIRST GENERATION

My original idea for Nexy blades was much different than it is today.
I had been a Tibhar agent since 2007 and a Stiga agent since 2010.
I had the opportunity to study hundreds of good quality blades.
However, when I first began Nexy’s blade line I stopped studying blades and began analyzing my findings.

I focused on creating something very different from the blade line of those two brands.
I wanted Nexy to produce different blades rather than better blades.
If I tried to make better blades, then I would have been studying, upgrading, and copying part of Tibhar and Stiga’s original designs, which is something I was careful not to do!

Nexy’s first-generation had to be different; it had to be unique.
Therefore, I did not copy and improve other company’s blades; I created my own from scratch.

Nexy’s First-Generation (also called “The First Wave”) was born.
I aimed it to be incomparable to other brands.
I organized the blade design into five categories:

1. 5-ply, with Hinoki surface. Fastest ever 5-ply blade – DEXTER

2. 5-ply, with Hinoki surface with good feeling and a heavy touch – COLOR

3. Hinoki carbon blade with a natural feeling – HANNIBAL

4. Hinoki arylate carbon blade with a natural feeling – OSCAR

5. Other blades: Hinoki Japanese penholder blades
– ISKANDAR and TEMUJIN; Hinoki one-ply shakehand blade – LAUREL; Handmade carbon blade – SAHARA.

I tried to make those blades unique and I often used a Hinoki surface, partly because European brands did not have the top quality Hinoki, which separated Nexy blades from the two other brands.
I carefully studied carbon material. At that time, blade designers categorized carbon layers into either hard or soft carbon.
Hard carbon was Butterfly’s main material, while Stiga used soft carbon.
I tested many different types of carbon and arylate carbon layers.
I adopted a very light, but powerful carbon and arylate carbon layer for Hannibal and Oscar.
They provided a good feeling along with high speed and power.

After several months, Nexy’s first-generation blades were completed.
I was somewhat satisfied, but I felt something big was missing.
The blades were good, but not unique! They weren’t much different from other brands’ blades.
I thought deeply and questioned my intention and purpose for blade designing — And I would soon discover it!

(will be continued soon)

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

NEXY's blade design history (2)

2. SECOND GENERATION

After completing the first-generation blades, I came up with a new concept that I called, “point and plane.”

Generally, table tennis rubbers and blades are judged by two factors — speed and control, and normally players think those two factors are interrelated. However, in most cases, speedy blades have worse control than slow blades.

Since the ITTF ban on speed gluing, the demand for spin greatly increased. Initially, many table tennis companies focused on how they could equip their rubbers with better speed, but soon realized they needed to focus more on spin. This caused a revolutionary development in rubber production.

As a blade designer, I also considered speed, control, and spin, and I tried to figure out how I could insert a powerful spin generating ability into my Nexy blades. That was the moment I came up with this new concept “point and plane”.

What makes a table tennis ball spin? Many people think that the ball rolls on the rubber when a player hits the ball. Actually, a ball does not roll — it impacts the rubber, twisting the top sheet and sponge. The ball is spun when the rubber tries to recover back to its original form. It’s all about the rubber’s character while returning to its original form.

Therefore, if you have a slow stroke, your rubber needs to respond accordingly to match your slow movement. But if you have fast stroke, your rubber needs to recoil quickly into its original shape.

If your movement is fast, but your rubber’s movement is slower than your swing, then your return will be weak. Regardless, it’s apparent that there is a crucial moment when a ball impacts the rubber, twists it, and is catapulted by the rubber recoiling to its original shape.

I chose to focus on this specific moment. If Nexy could make players experience that moment, then I could claim to have created something different.

I adopted the term “bang impact” in order to explain the explosive contact of a ball on the rubbers. The contact was so powerful that a ball could touch the wooden surface through the rubber.

I tried to design a blade that has a different character between blocking, standard strokes, and bang impact. The blade had to have several distinct functional features.

When a player uses the blade for blocking, it makes the ball fly short and gives the player a more stable defense. But for attacking, if a player makes a bang impact, then the ball is driven with power and speed. This is where I coined the term “dual impact” or “dual speed.”

In order to equip this dual impact to the second-generation blades, I slept many nights on the question, “How can I make dual impact possible on a real blade?” I rechecked all the blade compositions I went through and came to realize that there are two factors to consider. Those are “point” and “plane.”

In order to make the blade absorb the impact of the ball while blocking, I needed to use a “plane,” which means the whole blade acts to receive the power of the ball, embracing it and reducing it into something smaller.

But when I wanted to make a powerful shot in attacking, I needed to make use of the blade’s one spot as a solid point where the ball’s energy was focused and rebounded in the return. I also discovered the importance of designing an ideal width for each composition, which also affected the blade’s final character.

I attempted to combine one layer to serve as a “plane” and another layer to serve as a “point.” That was how I designed LISSOM. And that’s how Nexy’s second-generation began. Here is the list of those blades:

• SPEAR: Deep impact, solid response, and controlled dual impact.

• LISSOM: Maximized dual impact and oriented for continuous looping.

• CALIX: Big dual impact and extremely thin attacking blade (4.9mm)

• CALIX 2: Medium dual impact with moderate power and balanced feeling
and speed.

• QABOD: Medium dual impact, with a solid feel and good speed.

• AMAZON: Controlled dual impact, using white ash surface wood and a
balanced shape.

• SPARTACUS: Controlled dual impact, featuring Japanese Hinoki surface.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

3. THIRD GENERATION

While focusing on “dual impact,” I tried to scatter that concept on a variety of blades, from fast carbon blade (QABOD) to thin and slower carbon blade (CALIX), to embracing limba surface (SPEAR) and kiso Hinoki (SPARTACUS).

Along the way I discovered the benefits of burnt wooden material.
I tested many kinds of burnt woods, and I applied the burning process to a few of Nexy’s elite second-generation blades, CALIX, CALIX 2, and QABOD.
I also applied the burnt wood technique to Amazon and Spartacus. When a wood layer is burnt, it becomes thinner and lighter, which make the layer slightly different from a raw wooden layer.

After extensive research, I realized how attractive a blade made with burnt wood could be.
But unlike the second-generation blades, I decided not to burn all the plies of the third-generation line.
Instead, I focused more on how I could support the natural raw wooden surface with the burnt wood core, thus creating a light and speedy blade.

For the second-generation, I tried to apply dual impact for varieties of raw wooden to completely burnt blades, starting with the thinnest attacking blade CALIX, to the fast attacking blade QABOD, to the soft Hinoki surface blade SPARTACUS, to thin but hard surface white ash AMAZON and LISSOM.
The second-generation blades covered a wide range of speed and feeling. I extensively experimented until I found what is good and unique.

Three years of testing led to the Nexy’s third-generation, which is different from other two generations in the following three ways:

1. Third generation blades use a raw wooden surface, but the center layers are burnt.

2. Speed, size, and feeling converge!
I did not want to make them very fast, but not slow either.
All the blades are rated approximately Off-, but they are very fast when they are used for looping with “bang impact”.
“Dual Impact” was also converged on a moderate scale.
Touch and an excellent feeling were also noticeable.

Most blades aimed to provide a pleasant, rather than huge feeling and vibration.
They were not too stiff, not too flexy.
Overall, the third-generation blades were a unified group of attacking blades with “moderate dual impact” and “light and pleasant feeling.”
Each with a balanced weight and size.

3. Nexy adopted the new concept “depth” for the third-generation blades.
I studied my development of the second-generation blades, and came up with this concept — It’s not about blade’s thickness, nor is it about the actual depth; It’s about where the impact of the ball is felt inside the blade.

Regarding “depth,” in general, two factors are considered when designing a blade — speed and control.
But Nexy introduced another factor when designing the “second-generation” blades.
I applied “dual impact” and that significantly affected the “spin generating ability.”
That was a very attractive concept.
It intoxicated me, and I continued to focus on it.
But I came to realize that “Dual Impact” also needed to be modulated.

The third-generation blades hover around moderate scale.
But this process opened my eyes for the next level of blade design. That was a concept of “depth.”

At some point I stopped writing continuously about how I develop blades, and I did not say much about Nexy’s third-generation.
However, the third-generation blades are really well thought out and carefully conceptualized down to the smallest detail, such as “dual impact”, weight balance, handle comfort, spin, speed, and even “depth” — where players feel the ball.

I realized that “depth” is the very core factor that characterizes a certain feature of a blade.
For example, I used a thin but hard wooden surface for the KIM JUNG HOON blade, which was released under the Tibhar brand name.
It is supported by a soft, but pointing (converging the blade power on one point) second layer.

If I did not use a soft second layer, then the blade would not have enough depth to generate good control and spin.
If I increased the surface thickness, then the depth would not rely on the soft second layer, and ball would only be felt on the surface.
That would kill the good functional feature of the KIM JUNG HOON blade. This blade’s biggest feature is to make the ball bounce high.
Even an experienced blocker will be surprised when a ball flies higher than the usual curve, and that was possible by this “depth” arrangement.

For Hinoki surface blades, such as INCA (another Tibhar blade, but designed by me) and ARIRANG, I tried to support the soft Hinoki surface with composite layers and blade surface thickness.
I also carefully considered the depth of the impact. As a result, all the blades were carefully examined with the fourth factor; “depth.”

SUMMARY

Nexy’s first-generation focused on “speed” and “control,” the second-generation added, “spin,” and the third-generation added “depth.”

Here is the list of the third-generation blades:

•PETERPAN: Powerful, but balanced 5-ply blade.

•INCA: Speedy, but light feeling Hinoki carbon blade

•ARIRANG: Powerful carbon blade with aramid carbon layer

•KIM JUNG HOON: Powerful 7-ply blade with a high curve, long trajectory, and moderate dual impact

•OZ (Chinese Penholder only). Powerful attacking blade with a Hinoki surface.

•AKTIUM: Defensive blade with different surface woods on each side

•KANAPH: This is 3.5-generation blade, following the third-generation. It is a thin, but speedy Hinoki carbon blade.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

Peterpan - Never cease to dream!!!

http://nexy.com/shop/step1.php?number=1422

When I look back on the paths I walked on, I don't see manything still waiting for my concern.
I've done petty much I wanted, and I tasted a lot of things already.
I have had lots of different kind of jobs.
Why did I move around that much?
For a job I wanted to be sure about my ego? For money? For self satisfaction?
What if I call it a "dream"?
I think when a man stops dreaming, that's the time for him to start getting old.
If you keep your dream, stay there, whether other people admire it or not, then you will not get old.
This age, where many countries are in big trouble with finance, so many nations are in hunger, so many people in so many countries are never stop to take a rest in their hustle for money, when people stop to believe that the poor can make a road to the rich class, I think we have to cherich more than any other age the energy to dream.
People are saying that true poverty leaves no dream on chidren.
I've seen children with no dream, and that hurt me deep.
As a business man, I visited China a lot.
But normally, I stay in a big city.
In cities, there are many allies to the heart of the city, meandering through the dirty and narrow paths, but I did not dare to get in there for many years.
I believed there could be nothing much to attract me.
As a Korean boy, I used to grow in one of the alley, and I know what it would be like.
Korea used to be poor, and it's not very long that we became rich.
But three years ago, I happened to starta journey through on alley.
It was in Guang Zhou. Big city with big population.... maybe 3 tlousand million people, I heard.
The road is too narrow, that two people can not pass by without shoving their shoulders in.
I know many people from America or Europe are not feeling comfortable walking in Asian streets, such as Seoul in Korea, Beijing in China, because people don't care who are passing by, and they always bumps with their arms and shoulders, but if you live in that kind of small but crowded cities, it becomes nothing peculiar to shove in with your bodies through other people.
Any way, it started with a small walk, but got a long journey, because that narrow path did not end in a short time. It went deeper and longer than I thought.
I could meet lots of people in that narrow streets, many men with only underwear on their upper bodies, and sometimes they did not wear any clothes on, except for shabby pajamas.
They did not look having some real work to do. There were many shops on the walls, but people inside the window did not seem to be interested in people walking by the window, who could buy someting from their window shop. In Chinese cities, there are many indoor shops where you can buy small candies, or eggs... , through the window. But the people waiting for the customes inside the windows looked dark under no light inside, and did not seem to be live much from my eyes.
It felt strange. People were teeming inside the street, and they were chatting and idling away with their ways, but with those noisiness, still it did not feel that the street is alive.
Because people were not laughing, and people were not chasing after something.
And the narrowness stuffed in my throat, and I felt like pressured under thick and dark colored air.
But on the way to the center of the city, I felt something different is pulling my legs.
My ears start to search for the sound. My eyes became curios about what would turn up after several small corners. Yes, it was the sound of smile. It was the sound of smile from little children.
The street was still narrow, walled by neighboring houses, and still no room for two passer-by's.
But in that narrow space, there were decades of people hanging around the walls, looking through the windows.
It was a kinder garden. In that building, I could see through the window that many small children are singing with their loud voices, and the people hanging around several windows seems their parents or grand parents.
That wall were gleaming with smiles from parents and grandparents.
If I were to live there, even though I don't like that small and dirty street, with many dangers and probably germs, hold my kids, but whatelse I could possibly do, without letting my children playing with other chinese children, on the street, inside the kindergarden?
Whatever I could see to the point of that moment did not prevent me from feeling some joy inside my chest.
Yes, the sound of smils from children, the look of their parents' faces, warmed my heart.
I could find the identical parenthood, unstoppable passion and admiration towards children.
So, I don't know what life you have there.
I know we have different lives per each country.
But we share the same feeling, same heart, and in many cases, we feel the same emotions.
And I think the feeling I felt on that day means what make people live on.
We need that.
Oh my God, where my writing is going?
I started this article with the aim to explain the blade "Peterpan", but it's got into an alley which meanders through many different kinds of feelings.
But I felt like writing this article starting from the story what happened in that moment,.
At that point of my life, suddenly I came to realise that I'm not that much different from those parents in that narrow street, looking into the window, filled with joy.
Life is not easy, but we have something to rely on, and that makes us live.
We can call that in many different forms.
Hope, Dream, Kids, Youth, Future, Faith, Trust, Love, Affection, Passion..... you name it.
There could be hundreds of words we can say.
We need those things, because we are human.
I thought I lived in better country, and that was true in some ways.
I had many difficuties running business with Chinese people, and I did not like much of they way they did.
But that was the monet that I came to realize we are not very different.
They were born in that country, with so many population and harsh societal system.
And Korea was almost the same in some years ago.
I travel many countries per every year.
I don't know all the country, but I've seen people living in the street as beggars in most cities.
Homeless is not a small problem in Amrecia, either.
So, we can not weigh the heaviness of burdens in people's lives just by judging what it looks like.
Some of you might think that I need to apologize for this article to Chinese people.
Yes, if you had stopped inbetween somewhere in the past written part, then I might have to say sorry.
But please, don't stop, and come a little further.
What I want to say is that I was wrong when I thought life in China was more miserable than mine in Korea.
Life is miserable everywhere, but life is also something valuable to live whatsoever country you live.
Because you have something to rely on.
I know there are some people kill themselves by commiting suicides.
But I want to say that even at the moment they killed themselves, they might have seen something beautiful.
Something flashes with light, burning with brightness, whisphering they might meet something better.
I don't think they kill themselves for nothing.
That's why Jewish people drew art on the walls in the prison under Hitler's dominion, while they knew they would die soon.
Hitler might have killed the Jewish villages, but he could not be able to kill the spirit, sense of love and art, jeal for life and God.
I'm not a philosopher, but from that moment, I don't see the world as two different things.
Some people who can help, some other people who need help.
I use big money considering my sales to help poor people, but I don't think that's something big.
That's just one way to live. We can live helping or struggling.
When you help, you feel better, and you can leave your struggle for life behind (even maybe for some time being though.)
So, helping could be counted as a selfish deed, too.
Anyway, I chose to live that way, and that's nice.
But I don't think I'm living where I don't need help.
And I don't think I'm helping who is desparate of my help.
In it's true meaning, I'm just one of those who are desparately in need of help.
Who else is not?
But still, we have some feeling about something far better than this real world in our hearts.
We know what's beautiful, what's good, what's nice, just a child knows what's sweet in his mouth.
And those things were not gained by our endeavor.
And we have high senses for art, music, and happiness.
We have fear when we are exteremely happy, because we know any kind of bliss can not be long enough to carry away those fear in our heart.
We can feel something burning inside our mind when we meet great art, what genre is may be.
So sorry for you people who wanted to meet some simple explanation about blade design.
But Nexy's third wave came not only with functional idea, but with the whole new point of view about life and world.
In short, we need something to live on. Something to rely on with our eyes, with our touches, withour senses of our lives, to live by.
I don't know what to call this feeling,
So, when I could not find the right word, I could find something like a clue, or a shadow.
One of them was Peterpan.
We all have beautiful memories in our past, and that memory keeps us to live on.
That's one of the thing we can live on.
We can recall what we used to be, when we think of something flashed in our past, such as Peterpan.
I liked the name "Peterpan", because Peterpan is the character who lives by that belief we need something to live on.
Peterpan can not live without being young, being a child.
I think most of us are already the same as him.
Specially when I think of table tennis players, even though we are just amateur players, we have the passion and hope for being a better player.
We live a dream life as a better player, in our mind, no matter what level we are in.
And that's one thing we can live on, live by.
That's important. In that point, we are the same, regardless of our mother country.
We can be African player, American player, Asian player.
We can be rich, or poor, but that does not bother us to live on table tennis.
When I try to read this age, I can say that we need something bright, brighter than our actual lives.
With it, we can have safer life. Without it, we are in helpless fear, in many ways.
So, I know it's just a sports, what we enjoy, but we can see this in the different direction.
This is the antibiotic beverage, which protects us from being hopeless, joyless.
This is the balloon we used to look up when we were kids, which made us feel happier only by knowing that we had one balloon up there tied up on our writs, which meant that they were ours.
This is what we could feel that there could be still some left icecream inside the corn even though we saw it as almost eaten.
When we stop dreaming, hoping, that the moment we start to get old.
That's the moment we start to be aware of how sad and miserable life we have.
Am I becoming someone to be looked over, meaning nothing much to share with?
I don't know.
I just want to say that I did not want to sell a blade with fancy name.
I wanted to put something really happened in my mind.
So, this is the story why I put the name "Peterpan" on one of my blade.
I wish you could accept my apology for this long writing.

Let's move on to the fuctional explanation.
1. Structure
This blade is using natural Limba wood for the surface.
I did not take thermo- process for the surface wood.
But I burned the other two sencond layers and the center wood.
Burnt two inside layers make the blade faster than other normal blades, not making is heavier.
And they can make the feeling more vivid.
But the blade does not vibrate much.

Raw Limba used for the surface gives feeling to embrace the ball as a face, not as a point.
It makes the touch of the ball deepter together with the second layer's touch,
which is ayous, and that makes the feeling as a point, supported by the depth.

2. Depth
Nexy has been always focusing on this item.
I don't design a blade without checking the depth of the touch.

This blade has a feeling of the touch deeper than most other blades.
But I did not make it very deep as I did with Lissom.
If I say the touch of the Lissom stays in 30% of the total thickness, then I would say that Peterpan has 20% depth.

This a little big loosened concept of depth makes the blade more generally acceptable.
Not very different from other blades.
But still unique and intentionally reorganized in the concept of depth.

3. Variable resilience
I think this is opt expression for the Nexy's second wave.
I always tried to maxmise the variability of resilience for the second wave blades,
such as Lissom, Spear, Amazon, Spartacus, Calix, CalixII and Qabod.
Now this feature remains with the third wave blades.
But with third wave, I don't try to maxmise it.
Rather I want to make it harmonised with all other characters.
So, this blade does not bounce of the ball when you use it for blocking.
But it has good power when you try to attack with power.

4. Speed and spin
Burnt center wood gives bigger power.
And the burnt second layer gives good spin.
Nexy tested this spin generation function with the "AYOUS" second layer with the second wave blades enough,
and the result was dedicated for this blade, too.
But the spin and speed were modulated in the hamonised mixture,
so, the staying moment designed by the blade structure resunlts in good speed and spin together.
This blade does not show the oposite character of speed and spin.
Normally, when a blade has good speed, it does not make good spin, and the the opposite way is also true.
But with this blade, you can see both functions are eqaully updated, compared with other 5-ply blades.

In the conclusion, this is well balaced, and upgraded 5-ply wooden blades.
And I think this will show what other brands thought there could be no more, no better.
I wish you could be satisfied with this blade.
Thank you for reading this all, long and somewhat personal article.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

[FONT=&#47569]nexy office pictures.
[/FONT]

Nexy office has table tennis room for testing many table tennis equipments.

We only deal with original products.

Nexy company has many brand of table tennis equipment.
I think, the number is highest among all other company's TT products in Korea.

True joy of table tennis, Nexy.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

Nexy's new rubber, ELPIS
Hello, every one.
This is an official statement for the nexy's new rubber, ELPIS.

Nexy has been acknowledged as a good design brand for blades and bags, shoes,
but not very powerful brand for rubber market.
It was not because Nexy did not care for rubber development,
but because Nexy could not compete with other big brands,
because rubber production relies much on the money and market size,
rather than the designer's own creativity.

Therefore, even though Nexy knew that Nexy could get something new and big,
still it was not easy to make a decision to rush into the big investment market.

But finally, Nexy got a new idea to make a new market with this new weapon.
It is 30 USD rubber market.
People have been always expecting to have a good function rubber at the reasonable price range,
which has been stayed around 25 USD per one rubber.
So far, until we got the speed gluing ban policy from ITTF,
a dominant rubber in the market has been always around or cheaper than 25 USD.
But only within a decade after the speed gluing ban policy,
rubber prices jumped over the people's general expectation, even upto 80 USD.

Therefore, the initial aim for NEXY was to make a competitive rubber with 25 USD price.
It can not be satisfying all people, but it has to at least satisfy more than 80% people,
who are expecting to have a reasonable price rubber with a competitive funtional feature.
It has to be speedy, even though not much sticky, but also has to be grippy.

After launching Demian, it took 6 years for Nexy to release another rubber,
and during 6 years, Nexy studied most of the rubbers' development process.
Rubbers got fatster and grippy.
But also the prices got higher and higher.

So, Nexy started to created a new fomular for ruber surface, two years ago,
and kept on studying how to make a good sponge which can work well together with that top sheet.
2 years were spent for those study.
Actually, about a year ago, Nexy was almost sure to launch ELPIS,
and tried to enlist it ITTF rubber list,
and the rubber stayed enlisted already for a long time.
But still, as always Nexy has been doing, some thing more has to be added.

Final sophistication process took almost a year, after the first final sample was done,
and the sellable final version got a very generally acceptable features,
with good speed and gripping power,
as well as reasonable price, considering it's good function.

And the name "ELPIS" means "HOPE".
We are facing a era with deep worry about the future of our generation,
next generation to come,
with all these environmental and resource crisis,
which is dragging a heavy cloud on our head.

And the global economy is also overwhelming us with dark shadow.
Every one is saying this seems that we are coming close to an end of age.
It makes sense when we see Japanese new clear generation is now leaking 300 tons of polluted water
into the sea every day,
but they can not do anything for it.

Humans are weak and powerless, facing these global crisis.

But still we have bright sky and warm Sun,
and we know life brings hope beneath the pain.
No happiness comes without the forshadow of mishaps,
and no frustration fails to embrace a small hope,
which will open another bright day.

All pain, all troubles go away, when we look bank on our past.
It depends whether we have power to stand it to the end or not.
All things will solve out in the end.

Therefore, Nexy tries to symbolize that our lives are depending not only on our efforts,
but also on grace, which is coming far beyond our might,
by naming this rubber "ELPIS".

Nexy wishes that every one might think that there always have been "grace",
which can be easily ours, when we keep hope in our heart at any cost,
not yeilding to continuously upcoming mishaps.

So, Nexy is now proudly presenting this new rubber "ELPIS"
to all who waits for "grace" with keeping hope in their hearts,
at whatever pain they are facing at this moment.

Meet this rubber, and grap a new chance to start to hope.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

1. Nexy's second wave was focusing on "Dual Impact".
So, most blades were targeting at equipping "Dual Impact" on it.
But still there are small differences among blades.
Let me categorize nexy's second wave blades considering the degree of "Dual Impact".

Super Strong Dual Impact : Calix
Strong Dual Impact : Lissom
Midium range : Amazon, Calix 2, Spear
small range : Spartacus, Qabod

2. In the second wave, Nexy tried to insert the "Dual Impact" function into many different kind of blades. Therefore, in the second wave, nexy blades are various in many ways.
There is one using Hinoki surface(Spartacus), which neutralize the feature of "Dual Impact" with it's unique feeling, one using very hard surface and carbon material, which will not generate the "Dual Impact" function in a big portion, but also there is very thin blade, which will generate big "Dual Impact" function on it, that is Calix.
So, Nexy spent some time experimenting how to make use of and to what extent to make use of "Dual Impact" on many different blades.

3. During the process, I came to realize that there could be a certain people who will be crazily fascinated by this "Dual Impact", who enjoy sending the ball very close to the net after blocking, but there could be more people who could not get accustomed to this unique fuction.
Therefore, in the third wave, NEXY changed its policy about blade design.
Actually, it's not only about "Dual Impact". It's about all other acpects, such as speed, spin, and shape, even the handle shape.
Nexy tried to find a kind of balanced "Dual Impact", not very big, rather in some modest quantity, and also tried to make a blade handle and size quite moderate and acceptable from average players.

4. So, in the third wave, most blades are stayin in the small or midium range concerning this "Dual Impact" function.
Peterpan, Arirang, OZ, Inca, Kim Jung Hoon... all those blades have some amount of "Dual Impact", but it's sophisticagedly modulated into a moderate quantity, and I think you will not feel that much difference from other well known blades.
Any way, in some cases, you will still feel that Nexy blades from the third wave are still easy to control the distance of returning ball after blocking, due to that small amount of modulated "Dual Impact".
I hope this could be varified by many reviews for Arirang, and Inca, Peterpan.

5. By the way, still there are many players in Korea, who are crazily fascinated by "Dual Impact" from Calix and Lissom, and I don't think these extremely generated feature are something NEXY has to desert on the way. Rather, I will try to focus how to make use of this function in a balanced and moderate way.

I wish this content might be helpful to understand Nexy's "Dual Impact" feature.
Thank you.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

Launching Kanaph

Kanaph is a Hebrew word, meaning shade.
This name explains a lot about the way how I run Nexy, so I think I first need to tell some more than usual about how I came up with this name “Kanaph” for a new blade.

There is a story about a man, who always tried to take off his shadow from his body in Chinese old book, “Zhuang Zhou”. He feared his shadow, and tried to run from it, but all of his efforts left nothing but sweat. Zhuang Zhou saw him running every places in vain, and advised. “Why don’t you walk in to the shade of a big tree, where you can give a rest for yourself and your shadow?”

I can’t be sure that most others are living the similar lives as I am now living in, but my life is relying on two wings. One wing is my effort. I try to be smart, creative and always work hard to grow more. But that wing cannot guarantee safe and long journey. I need another wing, which is totally different from what I can control with my will. We call that “grace”.
No matter whether you have a religion or not, you will still know that life relies on luck. If I had not been lucky as I have had been, I would have become a far different person than I am now. Somehow I could have been able to make my life as it has been. I am not speaking about God. It’s more than that. I am speaking about “grace”, everyone can say, whether you are religious of not.
There are people who are aware of that “grace” they are enjoying in every moment, but there are some who are not, and those people normally lives less lucky lives, or at least, less happy lives. As for me, I want to be the former. My life is very much valuable one, and I am grateful for all the moments.
So, one day, I thought of that word “grace”, and I started to sleep on the word, because I wanted to rephrase that word into a new word I can use for my new business. At that time, I was trying to start another business, which is a bike business. (I am now inventing a new bike, which is all carbon folding bike, with around 7kg weight. Actually, I became double busy, because now I have another business, which is bike business. )
I got a touching sentence from bible, which was “in the shadow of your wings”. Little birds can stay safe and calm under the wings of their mother. They don’t fear anything, while they are under the shadow of their mother’s wings. This word “in the shadow of wings” reminded me of the story I read in Zhuang Zhou, a man who feared his shadow.
So, I looked up the word “shadow” in the old Hebrew bible, and that was “kanaph”.
And I bought a domain www.kanaph.com and started a new bike business.
I think I can run my business well, not because I am smart and working hard, but because I am lucky, too. So, there is no reason to be proud, but it would be better to try to share what I can get from my business, because that’s coming from luck in some part.

So, the word “kanaph” means that we live on luck, not only on our effort, but also on grace given to us. And I used that word for my bike brand, but now I want to use that word for my new blade, which will come out in the market very soon.

By the way, before I start to explain what features kanaph blade has, I need to explain what NEXY has been doing for those 2 years, while ITTF tried to launch a new ball.
One of good things for NEXY is that I can visit China a lot often, and I can get some good information about Chinese market and players. I live in Korea, and I visit China maybe more than 10 times in a year, so, I can get good information than other European brand managers.
And three years ago, I came to know that Chinese junior team was trying to make a big change in their players’ style. They recruited many short pimple out players.
Short pimple out players has been extinct for many years, since ITTF made our balls 40mm. In Korea, we used to have many Junior and quite some senior players, but abruptly, those short pimple out rubber players went gone, when ITTF changed the ball size. Short pimple out rubber players usually tried to outwit their opponent by moving quicker, and their weapon was irregularity of their attacking movement, because they normally played very close to the table.
But bigger ball started to hinder their strong point, because their play cannot return the ball very much fast. So, the generation became extinct, when 40mm ball entered the players’ world.
But Chinese junior team started to recruit those short pimple out players…..then why?

That was the moment I became seriously interested in poly ball. At that time Chinese team was allegedly said that they have seamless poly ball for testing and practicing. And the reason for that change was surely coming from that new ball.
I tried to get the ball, and could get one sometime later. I could understand the ball’s different performance kinda easily, because the movement was very similar to the large ball, which was 44mm.
In Korea, we use 44mm ball (bigger than normal 40mm ball, but the same weight) for old people. That ball is large, and we call them large ball. The ball does not make big spin, and players need to win a point only by patient strokes, So, you can normally expect longer rally per each score.
I made “large ball” with my nexy brand, and also with Tibhar brand. And I studied that ball for many years already. So, I could predict what happened for the Chinese junior team coaches. They might have concluded that new poly ball will make a change in the dominant play style, from usual top-spin attacker to short pimple out rubber smasher.
Actually, the final ball we can buy is not much different as the first ball was. But still, the character of the ball is somewhat similar to the “Large Ball”’s character.

(I have another news about ball. Nexy is now proudly launching “NEXY poly ball” soon. I’ve been watching how the ball production is going on, and got the best ball. I will write more about ball later.)

Any way, from that moment, I started to study how the market will change, and what will be the next table tennis popular gear. And I started to work on new three blades. “Kanaph”, Chedech” and “Zealot”. Kanaph and Chedech will be nexy’s “third wave” blades. But Zealot will be new trend. So, I am now trying to move to a totally new land, in order to face “poly ball” era.

Therefore, the basic feature of “Kanaph” is showing what NEXY is predicting about “poly ball”’s performance.
1. Size : “Kanaph” is slightly bigger than the before nexy blades. I could have lots of experience what lies between the size and the performance of poly ball. Bigger size (slightly, not largely) allows higher accuracy. For an example, the popular short pimple out blades was roundish shape, not rectangle one. In Asia, there used to be many short pimple players, and they used Japanese Penholder blades, but they preferred roundish one, not normal rectangle one, because they knew roundish blade has bigger sweet spot, which is definitely needed for smash plays. Poly ball will need better smash, because the ball does not allow big spin, and we probably will be relying more on our smashing shot, so bigger sweet spot will be effective change for the next generation. I also got some more data from Korean famous defensive players, including Joo Se Hyuk. I could run continuous blade testing with Joo Se Huyk for several months, when he considered moving to Tibhar from Butterfly, and I had some talk about blade size with him. I had also several other defensive players to talk about this. And they want bigger size, because they want accuracy in their rally. And that is the feature we need more when we play with poly ball. So, my three blades will have larger size than before.

2. Thickness : Calix was 4.8~ 4.9mm thick, but still it was an attractive attacking blade. I designed Calix that way, because I wanted players could feel the flexible feeling when they attack with it. Thin blade gives better accuracy, because you can feel better. But in the same time, the blade has to make people feel thick. I mean, you need to feel the ball goes deep into the blade, and get the impact in the deeper level than other normal blades, because the blade is thinner than others. If the feeling is shallow, then you will not like them much. Therefore, I tried to design the blade thin, but has deeper feeling. That study gave the inspiration for my next three blades. Kanaph is thin blade, but it has deep feeling, which allows you to feel the ball goes deep, and you will be controlling the ball with big accuracy and power.

3. Third Wave : Nexy’s third wave is focusing on the difference of the surface wood and the center wood. Surface wood is raw material, but the center wood is burnt one. Burnt center wood gives thinner composition keeping the power and speed the same as thicker blade, and gives lighter feeling when you stroke. But the surface wood is natural one, because I want to make use of the raw wooden material 100%. Therefore, Kanaph is using raw Kiso Hinoki on the surfaces, and using burnt center wood.

4. Kiso Hinoki Surface : This wood ply is not much experienced by players outside of Japan and Korea. I cannot tell you that Hinoki is better surface wood than others, but I can surely say that Hinoki has it’s own character, and some among you will be surely enchanted. This wood is very much soft and weak, and it has sticky feeling when you use it for your top spin stroke. And Hinoki has different angle for blocking. Once you got accustomed to its unique angle, you can place the returning ball very short, because the ball moves sticky on to the surface, and you can control it with detailed exactitude.

Ok, that is what I can say now about Nexy’s new blade, Kanaph. I wish you could feel the same was as I now feel. Thank you for reading this long article for a blade.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

There are pictures of the Kanaph blade.

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

Launching Actium - a new weapon for the modern defender.

Nexy poured many years into the development of this new defensive blade.

Seven years ago I met Joo Sae Huyk, the number one defensive player in the world. He was seriously considering moving from Butterfly to Tibhar and wanted to test their rubbers and blades. After trying Grass DtecS long pips rubber on his backhand side, Joo was satisfied, but finding him the right blade was not as easy.

I carefully studied all the available defensive blades and concluded that we needed to design a new one for Joo. For more than a year I helped Tibhar produce special samples for Joo. In the end, he decided he was unable to make the switch to Tibhar, but not because he was dissatisfied with the Tibhar rubbers and blades. At that time, Butterfly sponsored his club, and he was under a lot of pressure from his head coach to remain a Butterfly sponsored player.

During that testing period, I designed many blades with Joo. I also contacted other defensive players and gathered data to help me determine exactly what properties were needed to create the ultimate defensive weapon.

Here is a summary of my findings:

(1) Long Trajectory: Most European blade designers presume that defensive blades should focus more on the control than the power. They do not take into account that defensive players usually play away from the table and need to make long-distance chops and drives. Therefore, I chose to focus on the power of the blade.

(2) Powerful Attacking Ability: Overall, designers of defensive blades tend to focus more on the defending ability than attacking ability. Modern defenders need control for accurate placement when defending, but they also need to loop-drive and smash winners when attacking. It is easy to find a slow blade that has good control, but what a defender really needs is control for defending and power for attacking from a distance.

(3) Dual Speed System: I coined this phrase “Dual Speed System,” which players sometimes refer to as “gears.” I began developing this system with Nexy’s second wave. In general, it means that a blade has two speeds built into it — one for control in the short game and one for power when attacking away from the table. Nexy attained this dual speed feature by uniquely designing the blade’s composition. The surface works as a face, vibrating as a whole, and the second ply works as a powerful anchor to support the point of impact.

Nexy combined these factors to produce the Actium blade.
It uses number (1) for the whole blade’s character, and uses a combination of number (2) and number (3) for each side. The forehand side has excellent power, and the backhand side has dual speed, so you can utilize these two distinct features as needed to win points.

Actium has a different top ply for the forehand and backhand side, which makes it a “combination blade.” I use Akazie for the forehand, which is Joo Sae Huyk’s preferred blade surface wood, and White Ash for the backhand, which has a proven dual speed character found in Lissom, a Nexy second wave blade. After testing more than a dozen compositions, I concluded that a nine-ply combination delivers the most power and largest sweet spot for a defensive blade. Therefore, Actium has nine-plies; yet, it is thin and powerful.

The name Actium is symbolic.
In 31 BC, at the battle of Actium, Octavian defeated Antonius (Marc Anthony), who had abandoned the Roman Empire because of his obsessive, crazy love for Cleopatra. He sacrificed everything for her! In that same way, players are seduced to flirt with a defensive playing style. They find the beauty of the strokes irresistible. Many cannot help falling in love with the grace and elegance of chopping away from the table.

But as an experienced attacker begins to re-train as a defender, he/she quickly realize the negative effect is has on the offensive game. Little by little, the offensive skills that a player once worked so hard to achieve begin to fade away! Generating topspin requires forward motion, while chopping away-from-the-table often requires backward motion in order to keep the blade impact free of the body. Defenders need to have excellent footwork and quickly move side-to-side, forward, and backward. Attackers rarely move backward. So, the movement, as a defender, will often be the opposite of an attacker. A player who switches styles and becomes a defender often loses the ability to attack along the way. And, it is not so easy to switch back to being an attacker. I know this from personal experience after training as a defender for more than a year and a half.

Therefore, becoming a defender means that you risk losing or changing all that you had previously worked so hard to accomplish. Nevertheless, the defensive style is tempting, and many cannot resist the seductive beauty of their newfound passion, even at great cost!

Sometimes this happens to us when we fall in love with someone we can never have in the end. We risk being hurt, gaining nothing, and losing everything just as Antonius did. Still, the love we feel is so strong that we gladly throw it all away for the small chance of being with that special someone. Many people fantasize of such a love, and maybe it’s our nature to be tempted by the danger and beauty that is so difficult to obtain!

To be a defensive player you acknowledge that you are falling into the crazy kind of love that Antonius had for Cleopatra, but at least you will have a good companion to walk with you — that companion is ACTIUM.
Maybe we can be a little crazy in love and still win in life and in table tennis! ACTIUM is an attractive blade that invites players to taste this bitter, but sweet love. Do you dare to taste it?

mahomedy13 · Jan 2, 2015

Here are the pictures of AKTIUM. (Those were taken by one on-line table tennis forum manager in Korea.)

Pooh1256 · Jan 5, 2015

It looks very good

Guybrush123 · Jan 5, 2015

mahomedy13 said:
There are pictures of the Kanaph blade.

Nexy semms to have a lot of stuff! Feels like a candy store

But i have always wondered why they have a Marijuana-leaf as a logo? Do you know?

Der_Echte · Jan 5, 2015

I know the President of Nexy Korea and he is a PASTOR. I assure you that the company symbol is not a WEED leaf, but a PALM leaf, like the ones that got thrown down in biblical time to lay the path of arrival to Jerusalem. Palm leaf is a symbol of peace. Nexy President has broken it down before, but new TT formers often learn this after some time. President Moon selected this symbol with a purpose and names his blades and products from the classic time period BC.

Make note that the leaf of WEED has an extra leaf lower in the stem and the leaf is shaped differently. There are several versions of universally depicted palm leaves and Nexy's design is one of them. He had to simplify it to fit into small sized design for smaller products like balls and bat cases.

Here is a pic one version of palm leaf. Since there are so many leaves on a stem, he had to simplify it, much like Chinese simplify their multiple stroke characters for simplified Chinese.

When we get a Nexy USA website running, the meaning of the leaf will be one of the links on top of the page.

Der_Echte · Jan 5, 2015

I think very soon it will 6 years since I first ran into Nexy on MyTT forum and started testing and reviewing many of their new blades. I often visited their HQ in Bucheon Seoul area during my four year stay in Korea and often posted pics of my visits their. The HQ over there is a combination company HQ, warehouse, retail store, wholesale/retail distro ops center, visitor reception, TT photography studio, online order processing, web design unit, and TT equipment test facility.

That is a mouthful, but accurate for their relatively small HQ that is pretty huge for a TT store. I was lucky to get sponsored (lucky I spoke good Korean and had energy and very active online) as a player and our Foreigner Team when we were active in regional and national open tourneys. I had a blast living in Korea and being around Nexy, then and now, although I cannot be active in TT so much where I live.

If anyone hasn't heard of them, you will more often as you pay attention to TT forums. Every few months Nexy comes on forums and discusses blade design theory and their direction for the present and future. Sometimes they offer a blade for free to forumers to review. Now Nexy is making a lot of cool clothing, accessories, and bags. Their new Petra Plus shoes are hot like Stiga's latest.

Guybrush123 · Jan 6, 2015

Ok, that cleared things up a bit.

mahomedy13 · Jan 19, 2015

There is one article about "Labyrinthos" in ooak table tennis site.I hope this article helps people to know more about Labyrinthos.
This was written by "pingpongstephen".
And here is the address of that thread.

http://www.ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=12717&start=120

And he posted the movice clip.
Here is the movie clip.

Nexy Labyrinthos blade and Nexy Chaos 0.5 mm Testing

Initial Impression:

80-gm blade beautifully designed with high-quality finish. ST handle is very comfortable.

Bouncing ball on the BH side finds that it has a bit of hard feel. Paired with Tibhar Grass Dtecs OX (My competition long pimple) and had a hit. Wow, the feel is not that good as it gives me a sort of hard feel, which is not so comfortable when I chop. I couldn’t get the usual consistency and smooth feel like I use it on my Dr. Neubauer High Technology Plus or Giant Dragon Kris, which also has a thin layer of Koto.

Real Test:

Replaced DTecs OX with Nexy Chaos 0.5 mm on BH and Andro Hexer + 2.0 mm on FH, I had a go with Paul Moody, a looper. Immediately, the feel is much better and the consistency is improved. I am quite happy with the long pimple chop, swipe, block, hit and FH control loop with enough dwell time and hit. The thin sponge on Chaos does make a difference.

Conclusion:

It looks like this could be a combinational blade for a modern defender as you can see from my Youtube video. The FH away-from-table counter is awesome and powerful which I have not tried on this video. Personally, I don’t quite like stiff feel on the BH side. Perhaps, it could be the carbon layer, though on the FH side, has some impact on the Koto layer on the BH. Surprisingly, I find there is nothing much special with the Nexy Chaos 0.5mm long pimple rubber as I don’t seem to find much back spin, wobbling or reverse spin effect. Maybe I have to keep on searching a suitable OX long pimple for my needs on Labyrinthos.

Anyway, I do appreciate Mr. Moon from Nexy who gave me a chance to review his products, though not very much in-depth. Above mentioned is just my personal feeling and preference. Nevertheless, Nexy Labyrinthos is still a highly recommended blade for modern defenders

mahomedy13 · Jan 19, 2015

WHAT happens when we make a big looping shot on our racket?

This is the topic I planned to write quite a long time ago, but I could not start until today.
I'm not a professional player, but I've been playing more than 20 years, and also I sometimes play with top players in Korea.
Besides, I had several chances to participate in Junior players training camps in Germany and Hungary, and I could have many chances to see how many players are playing in their own ways.

Basically, Korean players are always asked to make powerful shots.
They are not allowed to send back their ball with clumsy but steady way.
Even though they can lose one point, still they are expected to return it with big power and speed.
And from Korean players, I could learn how to make "Bang Impact".

("Bang Impact" is the term I made up with, in order to explain more about blade and rubbers. When you make "Bang Impact", the ball goes into the very wood through the rubber, and you can hear the sound coming from the impact on that wooden surface. It needs quick swing movement together with good angle and deep touch of the ball into the racket.)

And from European players, I could learn how they can handle their rackets that many ways, and how they can be steadily in all strokes.

I think some time later, I can write another report about the differances between Korea and Europe, and some useful information about Chinese training system.

By the way, regarding today's topic....

Many people believe that when we hit a ball with our racket, and if we want to make a good top-spin shot (looping), then we need to make a ball roll on the rubber as much longer as possible.
We might picture that the ball is rolling on the rubber, and we try to make it the moment of rolling longer as much as we can.

This is the way most begginners and even some good players believe how we can make looping.
But just think more about it.
When we swing the racket, this racket is meeting the ball coming into itselt.
And the racket has a rubber and blade which are made to hit the ball with big speed.
So, the idea that the ball can roll on the rubber is really not possible.
If it stays in the rubber, that can not be rolling.
That can be a moment when the ball goes deep into the rubber, and get bounced off, and leave the rubber with quick movement.

So, I can say this way.
The ball does not roll on the rubber.
The ball is rather stabbed into the rubber reaching as much deep as it can , and then get kicked out by rubbers big energy which focus on it's original shape.

Here is another picture by which you can understand better what I meant.

Actually, this bang impact is not only for some professional players.
Most loopings are happenning as the picture shows. But top players can make the ball goes deeper, even to the wooden surface.

If you start to understand these two pictures, then you would know why I focus on this "bang impact".
My blades' general purpose is to give you bigger chances for this bang impact.

I think many people will have some questions about these two pictures.
I'm not sure I can give right answer to all those questions, but I will wait for those questions.
And I will write more about this relating to my next blades, if I find some more topics from those questions.

mahomedy13 · Jan 19, 2015

HOW TO MAKE BIG SPIN ON YOUR SERVICE
This topic is one exceptional one.
It's not about my blade design, but I found out lots of people don't know this.

As I wrote in the before article, many people generally understand that big spin needs to prolong the contact area between rubber and a ball as long as possible.
But when a ball falls on the surface of top sheet of a rubber, it does not roll on it.
Generally, it goes deep into the rubber and makes the top sheet and sponge crooked.
And the rubber's top sheet and sponge makes the ball spin when it comes back to the normal shape.
Therefore, it's not about rolling, it's about sticking into and sprinkled back.
(As always, I'm worried now if my English is making sense or not...but I don't know much vocabulary to express it exactly the way I want.)

So, it's not only some rare case.
I think in most cases the ball does not roll on the surface.

The word "bang impact" happens when the ball goes deep enough to touch the wooden surface.
Even though the ball did not touch deep into the wood, and does not make a big sound, still the ball normally does not roll.
It simply goes deep into the ruuber and get repelled by the power of rubber's getting back to it's normal shape, and that's when the ball gets big spin on itself.

I found out many people now think that this happens only when they make "bang impact", after reading my before article.
So, I need to make it correct.

Here is one more example.
Many of you might have tried to roll the ball on your rubber as much as possible, when you want to make a big spin on your service.
So, you might think you need to move the racket wide.
When you move the blade wide, then the ball might have longer trail to roll on.
That will be the general belief.

But in fact, if you look at slow video clips about many good players' service motion, you will know that it's not true.
Even when you make a service, the ball does not roll.
It simply goes deep into the rubber's inside, and get expelled.

So, it's the same procedure as you make looping.
The ball does not roll.

Just think more about it considering what's the basic character for a rubber and blade.
They are made to bounce off the ball.
And it's the same with the ball, too.
Ball can not stay when a blade comes up to hit it.
So, the moment of the ball staying on the rubber is not rolling, and it must be going deep and getting out.
All the spin has to made while the ball goes deep and gets out of the rubber.

Therefore, when you want to make a big spin on your service, it has to be about very short moment, when you pick the ball with your rubber, and makes it goes deep inside of the rubber.
It's not about big swing movement only.
It's about very short but quick movement, but has to be picking up the ball with the rubber.

You can easily test it by slicing the ball with very short but quick swing downward movement, even though the racket does not move wide, and the angle of the racket is not possible to make the ball roll...still you will see the ball will have the same or bigger spin than usual case.

I hope my clumsy English does not prevent you from understanding the true meaning of this writing.

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