Grant Douglas' S'up Spoon has gone on to revolutionise mealtimes for people with shaky hands around the world - he is now months away from launching more products
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| Mark Penver and Grant Douglas |
An award winning designer who created a spoon that aids people with shaky hands brought on by conditions such as cerebral palsy or Parkinson’s has announced he plans more empowering devices.
Edinburgh based Grant Douglas, who himself has cerebral palsy, shot to prominence after his his S’up Spoon won the prestigious international Blackwood’s Design Awards in 2015 and sales of his product went global.
Now nine months on, Grant, who is a computer science graduate and works part time at Children In Scotland, has revealed to TFN he is planning on bringing out more products in 2017 such as been the spoon’s success.
“We were overwhelmed to win Blackwood’s Design Awards last year,” Grant said.
It is fantastic to know that our product is now revolutionising mealtimes for people around the world
What followed was beyond my wildest dreams, emails came in from every corner of the world, interview requests from the BBC, full page articles in national newspapers, the list is endless.
“Sales went crazy, every day for weeks on end from every part of the world, sales came flooding in, I couldn’t have ever imagined what winning the award did for sales, not only at the time of the win, but in the months that followed.
“Over the past nine months, it has been featured on BBC One’s Songs of Praise, we’ve donated spoons to a voluntary organisation that helps disabled people in South Africa and it now has packaging with a bar code so that it can be sold in shops and is currently on sale via Amazon.
“It is fantastic to know that our product is now revolutionising mealtimes for people around the world.
“We are hoping to have one or two more pieces of tableware for people with shaky hands to bring to market in the next few months. All profits from the spoon are being used to develop them."
As well as becoming a bestseller the S’up Spoon is appearing in an exhibition in the British Design Museum in London this month and has been tested by the Royal National Institute of Blind People which has agreed to add it to their product range.
Designed in conjunction with Mark Penver of design firm 4c Design in Glasgow, Grant came up with the idea in 2014 out of frustration of having to wait for his next spoonful of cereal when his Mum, who was feeding him at the time, was called away.
Deemed the "spoon that doesn’t spill", it has a deep cavity, so that if it’s tipped up no food will fall out regardless of how much a person’s hands shake.
It has since allowed him and the thousands who have purchased it to eat more independently in their own homes and in restaurants.
As part of his prize for winning the Blackwood award Grant received £1000, as well as invaluable backing from its partners to support S’up Products as it continues to develop.
The cash prize was used to help develop the packaging needed to sell it in retailers and the publicity gave the product credibility, Grant says.
For 2016, the awards will be made up of two distinct categories – Best New Product and Best New Concept.
Colin Foskett, head of innovation at Blackwood, added: “By adding the additional category for this year’s competition, we are aiming to support, and promote even more new design talent.
“Designs like the S’up Spoon have benefited the lives of many others, and we expect this year’s designs to be no different.”
Read more at http://thirdforcenews.org.uk/tfn-news/scot-with-cerebral-palsy-who-designed-spoon-that-doesnt-spill-promises-new#MhydOSv1iHePXy6G.99
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