Grant Douglas
The Creator
I don’t let having cerebral palsy get in my way. I have a degree in computer science and two jobs; I live independently and enjoy spending time with my friends. However, one thing has bothered me, I struggle to eat cereal or soup! I looked on the internet and although I tried a few things, nothing worked for me. Then I had the eureka moment; I decided I needed a spoon with a lid! A few weeks later a friend introduced me to 4c Design, a product design consultancy based in Glasgow. 4c agreed to take on my project and they assigned it to their graduate industrial designer, Mark. I couldn’t believe it, my idea was actually being taken seriously.
Mark & I looked at what was feasible; we built prototypes and soon decided anything with mechanical buttons was too cumbersome. I wanted the spoon to be discreet enough to use in a restaurant without other diners staring at this novel piece of cutlery. Two days before Christmas, I visited 4c Design and they gave me two prototypes of what has now become the S’up spoon.
Since that early prototype we’ve worked hard refining the design to make it ambidextrous, food safe and dishwasher proof. Realising the difference the spoon has made to me, we built a new company (S’up Products) and we’re delighted the S’up spoon is now available to anyone who could benefit from it.
Those who helped
4c Design
With what started as an internship project, 4c carried across their expertise and dedication, into the design and manufacturing stage.
Established in 2002 in Scotland; award winning 4c Design combines years of experience, creativity and engineering ability to deliver product design engineering solutions. For over ten years, we have combined creativity with engineering expertise, building a product design consultancy dedicated to developing ground-breaking and successful products. In short, we make ideas valuable.
Lawrie IP
The team at Lawrie IP recognised at an early stage the potential for the development of the S’up products and have provided their support with advice and assistance on capturing S’up’s intellectual property (IP).
Lawrie IP is a firm of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys. They specialise in providing clear and pragmatic IP advice across a wide variety of sectors and technical disciplines. For more information on Lawrie IP please go to www.lawrie-ip.com
Gilson Gray LLP
Andrew Fleetwood and the rest of the team at Gilson Gray LLP helped S’up Products to draw up an agreement with 4c Design which enables each party to work together without any conflict of interest.
Gilson Gray LLP have risen to be one of Scotland’s most prominent law firms. The provide legal advice in the areas of law, property and finance as their logo suggests. For more information on Gilson Gray LLP please go to www.gilsongray.co.uk