Blacksmith and luthier Jerry Hoffmann, (a graphic artist by training), founded Boat Paddle Ukulele Co. in 2005 in New Haven, Missouri. By 2007 he had moved over to full time luthiery and was designing his own non traditional body shaped Ukuleles. In 2015, tired of being asked about making actual paddles for boats, Hoffmann change the company name to Hoffmann Lutherie and replaced the distinctive P on the headstock for a distinctive H. 

All scales of Ukulele are made, (though not necessarily for all designs), and all string configurations can be ordered, (though I have never seen a 10 string Tiple Ukulele from Boat Paddle or Hoffmann) Among the not-traditional Ukulele design aspects, certainly of the newer models is the nut. Instead of having a groove in the nut for each string there is a flat nut with a single pin in which combined with the offset of the tuner placement holds the string in the correct alignment, (apparently he took this idea from piano makers). Other innovations include the "reverse heel" and the "Cantilevered Saddle".