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This is Not a Camping Trailer 

Surprisingly, Polydrops did not start as an RV company, nor does it aspire to become one. Polydrops began in 2015, when two founders left South Korea to study architecture in the United States. Leaving behind everything they had ever known, they came to the U.S. to gain a broader architectural perspective and richer experiences. However, they soon found themselves disillusioned with architectural education, which emphasized virtual designs and theoretical discussions over tangible, physical spaces.

The problem quickly became evident. Like most ordinary RVs, the teardrop trailer had no insulation. Accustomed to energy-efficient apartments in Korea, the founders suffered in the bitter cold. They were shocked that such poorly insulated living spaces were sold as products in the 21st century. Even more surprising was learning that this design philosophy—ignoring insulation and relying on oversized HVAC systems for comfort—was widely accepted in the U.S. It prompted them to question: Could this approach truly represent an exciting and thought-provoking future that makes our hearts race?

While continuing their studies, they spent every spare moment working on their design. In the summer of 2017, while their classmates pursued internships, K sold his Kia and used the funds to buy a cheap 1987 Corvette for $3,000. With the remaining $4,000—$600 of which went toward renting a coworking warehouse for two months—they purchased materials and began construction. That effort gave birth to the first Polydrop.

This prototype had two main goals: to inspire change in the cookie-cutter RV industry and to explore what a truly insulated, 21st-century living space could look like.

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Building their own space, 2017

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K and Rob, 2019

Up until 2018, Polydrops was merely the reckless side project of two architecture students. That changed when they met angel investor Rob Rhinehart, the founder of Soylent. At the time, K and J were working on their thesis project in the parking lot of their architecture school in downtown Los Angeles. The project explored nomadic life and mobile spaces. Of course, the school saw their project as just another RV and refused to allow them to work inside the building. Instead, they were relegated to a forgotten corner of the parking lot—a decision that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

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K's Thesis project, 2018

They were constructing an unusual pavilion on top of their trailer, visible to anyone passing by the busy streets of downtown LA. This caught Rob's attention. One night around 1 a.m., he walked into the parking lot, struck up a conversation with the two founders, and eventually invited them to his startup incubator, suggesting they turn their eccentric school project into a business.

 

And so, Polydrops was born—not as a calculated business idea, but as a wild, unexpected venture driven by two clueless yet passionate architecture students.

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Shop Your Own Space

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The first camping in a rented teardrop trailer, 2016

In 2016, after enduring this frustration, Founder K (Kyunghyun Lew) decided that returning to South Korea with nothing accomplished was not an option. Instead, he resolved to build a real, physical space as a student of architecture—to experience what it truly meant to create a space that people could inhabit. With no savings—much like most international students—K set his sights on designing the smallest possible habitable space that could be placed anywhere: a teardrop trailer. However, having never camped or even seen an RV before—RV culture was virtually non-existent in South Korea before COVID-19—K and his wife & Co-Founder J (Jieun) decided to rent a teardrop trailer to experience it firsthand. That trailer was a 5-foot-wide model from Little Guy Trailers, which no longer exists today.

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