Innovation Begins at Home
May 31, 2004 | bengisu
British businessman fed up with the wheelchairs his daughter was forced to use hired two industrial designers to help him develop a better pediatric wheelchair.
A man whose company specialises in aircraft technology has just launched a 'designer' wheelchair that was originally made for his daughter.
Richard Smith was so frustrated by the lack of suitable wheelchairs that he decided that he could do a better job himself.
"A lot of companies aren't prepared to put in much production investment, but I also think there's a lack of imagination," Mr Smith told BBC News Online.
Mr Smith, from Leominster, Herefordshire, hired two graduates in industrial design and worked with them to produce the Chunc.
"I started working on this three years ago, when Sophie, who was then 12, started to have to use a much bigger wheelchair.
"And I frankly found the products that she was using too heavy, too cumbersome, not really fit for the purpose and quite stigmatising as well."
The Chunc is on show at Naidex 2004 - an exhibition of products for disabled people - at the NEC in Birmingham.
The HR Smith Group has come up with a wheelchair that uses bold colours and lightweight composite materials resulting in something that has a similar appeal to a Swatch, a Smart Car or a Dyson vacuum cleaner.
more: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3706921.stm (78)
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