“Winning would be fantastic because it wouldn't just give us the means to get to market and make an impact sooner, it would mean that industry professionals believe in our product and vision, which is invaluable…”

Corien Staels is product designer based in Glasgow who has entered the Blackwood Design Awards 2016. This international design competition seeks to discover and champion brilliant and innovative designs and concepts that can help people who have disabilities live more independently.

 Corien’s brainwave has been WheelAir, a self-cooling wheelchair cushion that helps regulate the body temperature of wheelchair users. With only 1 week to go before the closing date for submitting an entry, we caught up with Corien to find out more about WheelAir and why she wants to win the Blackwood Design Awards 2016.

1)      What is your background and how does it link with disability and independent living aids?

My background does not necessarily link with disability and independent living aids in the way you'd perhaps expect. My background is one of product development and management in the textile industry, designing sportswear and braces, as well as strategy consulting and business. Nevertheless, while finishing my Bachelors in Fashion Management I found inspiration in the amount of issues people with disabilities face to which there are solutions, however, these solutions have often not yet found their way into the rehabilitation or more general medical industry. I soon became passionate about using my network and skills to bring innovations to the rehabilitation market, more specifically to the wheelchair industry.

2)      Can you give us a brief summary of your entry in the BDA?

My entry focuses on Staels Design's first product WheelAir. The product's first version focuses on delivering an air-cooling wheelchair backrest cushion to help with body thermoregulation and to reduce sweat build-up and the discomforts that come with it.

3)      How and when did the idea for Wheel

Aair come about?

The idea came about during my Bachelor's dissertation at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute in May 2015. I wanted to create a product using my interest in sports and medical textiles and create something with a real benefit. My wheelchair using supervisor highlighted the problem of overheating for people who sustained a spinal cord injury to me and the idea was born. Right now the actual product has become much more technically advanced since 2015 and now has the possibility to help every wheelchair user. It is fantastic to see my product grow like that.

4)      What level of involvement was there from the target market, i.e. wheelchair users?

With Staels Design, we have valued the involvement from our target market from day one and made it the starting point for all design decisions. Before creating the product we drove around the whole of Belgium and the Netherlands to talk to wheelchair users, paralympians, wheelchair producers, distributors and physiotherapists who provided clarity on the actual needs of the end user. Today still we are continuously expanding our network to talk to as many wheelchair users as possible. We are now getting ready for ten customer tests before officially launching the product in order to get feedback on our designs.

5)      Have you worked with healthcare professionals to perfect the design?

We have yes, we have spoken to the Spinal Unit of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to get their input as well as several physiotherapists, orthopaedists and general physicians. Each have their own point of view of what is most important regarding the benefits of WheelAir, therefore we value speaking to a wide variety of people.

6)      What drives you to develop Wheelair? What is the key motivation pushing this project?

My key motivation is the realisation that I have created a product that will actually make an impact on the health and wellbeing of others. The more wheelchair users I talk to and the more I hear their discomforts and the ridiculous things they now need to do to stay cool or get warm, the more it pushes me to bring my product to market and help make their life easier.

7)      Have there been any test users? If so, what has the response been so far?

While we have often demonstrated the first prototype, actual user testing was more difficult because of it being made for a handcycle, which is not easily transportable. Our more recent prototypes however have been tested in limited numbers and have been perceived as more comfortable and more supporting than current backrests. We are now gearing up for our first ten end-user tests.

8)      What persuaded you to enter the Blackwood Design Awards?

Visiting Blackwood and talking to its residents was very useful towards our product design. While other Scottish competitions focus on entrepreneurship in general, the Blackwood Design Awards allows us to be assessed by industry professionals. Their feedback, good or bad, will mean a lot to us and hopefully help us to constructively push WheelAir forward.

9)  Is there anything else you’d like to tell people?

We will soon be sending out our first newsletter! Be sure to subscribe on www.staelsdesign.com

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