Lamina

The Lamina is the first release in our new Research and Design lineup.

It’s smooth, wide and floaty — but beneath all the fun, the Lamina was crafted as an experimental design study in weight distribution and playfeel.

It comes in two variants: α and β, identical in shape, size, and material — except for its center weight, illuminating how small shifts in mass can transform feel.

SPECS

Diameter 51.9mm
Width 52.9mm
Weight [α] 66.8g and [β] 65.5g (Δ = 1.3g center weight)
Material 6061 AL

The Lamina was inspired by countless conversations around design theory and how small physical changes can lead to tangible shifts in playfeel. The community is full of these. The most iconic of them centers on the word “floaty” — a term that’s notoriously hard to pin down, not just in how a yoyo plays, but in what physical features might actually produce that sensation.

Designers and manufacturers we admire have chimed in from opposite sides of the aisle — and to us, the absence of conclusive agreement only makes the discourse more compelling.

It’s not straightforward to define playfeel, either. A player’s experience of a design is so subjective that it’s hard to map that objectively onto another person’s expectations. Specifications are also imperfect descriptors here — a 67g model could very reasonably feel like a 64g yoyo. 65g models can feel more reluctant than heavier alternatives. We’ve heard this countless times over our years spent in design and manufacturing.

Over that time, we’ve come to see playfeel more like tasting notes than a spec sheet, where many subjective descriptors (”reluctant”, “zippy”, “agile”, “hang time”) can help to paint an impressionistic picture of an experience. In many of the Design Notes that we’ve published in the past, we’ve tried to bridge that gap — to provide vocabulary of what a design might feel in your hands.

But without some shared baseline — both in language and in experience — it’s hard to map design variables directly to playfeel.

The Lamina was created to address that. Designed intentionally with two variants — α and β — it allows players to feel the difference that a subtle shift in centerweight can make, side by side. It’s also the first release under our Research and Design lineup — a space for experimental, potentially one-off projects and design exploration. As Coleman put it, this is us leaning fully into the “projects” part of Atmos Projects.

Rim weight is a lot more straightforward, and more easily understood — higher rim weight generally results in a sturdier, more powerful presence and spin. Center weight and mid weight, however, requires a much subtler view. From a “minmax design” perspective, centerweight is generally seen as purposeless — even subtractive — and does not help performance in any way.

Our personal stance is that weight distribution is a lot more nuanced than that, and that playfeel comes about by how the three mass categories harmonize with a design’s profile and size — each of these being vital levers for adjusting and creating a specific playfeel.

In musical terms — center weight can often feel like the missing bassline that makes an already wonderful acoustic set feel complete and whole. It’s not loud, but it has an incredibly grounding effect. When it’s missing, the musical experience feels somewhat empty.

We approached the Lamina like a controlled experiment, an A/B test — we fixed all design variables across the Alpha and Beta — except for center weight, where the Alphas pack an additional 1.3g in a slight dome hub. This additional mass is slight, but not insignificant — it isolates the effect of center weight as a sole variable, and allows us to observe its influence on feel.

The Lamina is wide enough for this subtle difference to feel real and observable, while keeping it stable in play.

The goal of this project isn’t to say that a specific design or playfeel is better than the other, but to provide a reference point for their own tastes and preferences. The Lamina exists to help players understand what playfeel speaks to them, and how to recognize it when it appears.

Our personal, subjective observations of the differences are as such:

“α / Alpha — Domed hub, with an 1.3g of additional center weight overall. Plays more rounded, bouncy and whole. A lot more gradual and smooth on directional changes.

β / Beta — Flat hub, base weight, and rim weight is proportionately more. Plays clean, light and agile. Very quick and amenable.”

For what it’s worth, A/B test and design theory aside — the Lamina is possibly one of the most fun designs we’ve made.

The name Lamina is Latin for layer — reflecting the tiered nature of design in a physical world. The suffixes, Alpha and Beta, draw from the Greek tradition of empirical observation.

We’re excited to hear if your experiences of the Lamina align with ours, and whether experiencing both versions together surfaces any realizations about existing models and designs.

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The Lamina comes with a velvet texture blast. Bearing areas are masked and smooth, and will not affect string wear. Please note before purchase.

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The lamina is equipped with

Stratos Pads by Atmos

Type I Concave Bearings by Atmos

CloudWeave Micro by Atmos

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september 2025

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