British Grandma’s Invention Goes Global!
Mrs Christine Daws, a retired pensioner from Steyning, West Sussex, has been celebrating her recent success as her invention, the Multi Purpose Drying Caddy, is gaining global orders.
Mrs Daws journey began when she became frustrated with items such as rinsed recyclable bottles, plastic bags and rubber gloves cluttering up her kitchen draining board and taps. After a fruitless search for such a utensil to keep draining board items tidy, Christine had a light bulb moment – she decided to create her very own drip dryer container. Using a small wirework basket and two pairs of knitting needles attached with crochet cotton which had belonged to her mother, Christine soon had her very own drying device prototype!
Christine collaborated with leading invention development company Innovate Product Design for help with developing, protecting and commercialising her new design, following advice from her granddaughter and a friend to patent her idea.
Initially, Innovate Carried a worldwide patent search to see if the idea was original.
Christine Daws commented: “It was great meeting Innovate as they were really excited about the possibility of the product and how they could bring it to life.”
“When she showed us her invention, we thought this had real potential” commented Alastair Swanwick, Innovate’s Managing Director. “It has been a joy to work with Christine and this demonstrates that age is no barrier for entrepreneurship.”
Using 3D CAD visualisation software, Innovate developed the idea so that she could professionally present her invention to KitchenCraft, who have licensed it under the name of “Multi- Purpose Drying Caddy” and agree to pay Christine Daws royalties.
It is now for sale in shops, garden centres and also through Amazon and by January 2015 orders had been sent to the UK, New Zealand, Portugal, Austria, Ghana and France.
Mrs Daws said: “My journey goes to show that you can embark on a new career at any age and a grandma can learn new tricks!”
