EVER STRUGGLED getting a buttoned-up shirt or polo neck off a clothes hanger when you’re running late for work? If you did, you will be glad to hear a couple of young Irish designers understand your frustration and have come up with the ultimate solution.
They have designed a simple plastic clothes hanger that slips in and out of garments as easily as a deer speeds gracefully through the wilds of Africa and have thus named it the “Gazelle”.
Their innovation, developed originally with arthritis patients in mind but which would make hanging clothes and removing them from hangers easier for everyone, was the overall winner of the Easy to Use Design Awards, presented in Dublin yesterday.
Ronan Murphy from Dublin and Kevin Doherty from Drogheda, who are students of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), have already spoken to a number of manufacturers about possibly mass producing the hangers. They have taken out protection for the design across Europe.
The awards, which are run in partnership with Arthritis Ireland, the NCAD and Pfizer Healthcare, also saw a number of other students commended for coming up with innovative solutions to common problems facing arthritis sufferers, as well as the public at large.
Take, for example, the difficulties many face opening pots of jam or mayonnaise. Anna Gallagher and Shane Masterson, who are third-year students at NCAD, came up with a new lid design for such containers which incorporates a built-in lever. The lever, which can be lifted with ease, can then be used to manoeuvre the opening of a lid without a struggle.
Among the other designs attracting commendations were an inbuilt tag for vacuum-packed foods, such as sliced ham, sweets or sauces, to give the user a decent grip and allow the opening of such packaging without any of the usual difficulties.
Calum Haughton, the NCAD student who came up with the concept along with Daniel Quinlan, said their research had established that people with arthritis had huge problems opening plastic packaging. A doctor who treated arthritis patients at Dublin’s St Vincent’s hospital was also consulted before they developed the prototype.
Entrepreneur Seán Gallagher of Dragon’s Den fame, who was on the judging panel, said he was hugely impressed by all the entries. It was this type of creativity which would help us on our way to economic recovery, he said.