Advertisement
[Emerging Talent] What do you do if you’re slogging your guts out for limited gain? If you’re Jasmin Ziedan, you buy the company and do it your way. In May 2008, the 25-year-old Ziedan had been managing Base FM, owned by George FM,... more »
Too many executives miss the bigger opportunity because they can't get behind the numbers Business // The sustainability movement is obsessed with the numbers: carbon footprints, energy savings, stakeholder engagement, triple bottom... more »
Our movie industry has shaded Australia’s—but can we fund it? [Metrics] Telling its own stories in film is something New Zealand does well. Flicks like Sione’s Wedding, Whalerider and The World’s Fastest Indian show us... more »
There’s never been a better time to invest in green building // Building In my role as a spokesperson for the New Zealand Green Building Council, I’m often asked how the property downturn will affect the movement towards sustainable... more »
Roll up
Samuel Gibson in his invention, a wheelchair that can lower the rider to ground level and lift to standing height
[Deconstruction]
Do you fancy mag wheels, a chilli-red paint finish and black mesh seats? Patented suspension? An electric actuator to lift your ride four feet off the ground?
Samuel Gibson did. So when he couldn’t find a wheelchair that was both practical and cool, he set out to create his own. Two years later and the first container-load of his invention, the EziRiser, is currently winging its way to Europe.
Conventional wheelchairs are a few feet off the ground—and there they stay, well below the height where most eye contact, work and conversation takes place. The EziRiser, though, lifts and lowers its rider as needed. “It gives me independence,” says Gibson, who won the Attitude Enterprise Award for the chair in December last year.
The proposition makes sense—there’s no longer any need to ask for help to everyday tasks like fetching cans in the supermarket, money from a cash machine or a drink at the bar. Gibson lives in an unmodified house and works in a regular office, a feat that he credits completely to the EziRiser. “It’s great because it lets kids get on to the mat at school, or play games,” he says. “But it’s actually kind of annoying for me because now I have no excuse not to wash the dishes or pick up after myself.”
The chair is part of a global deal struck in 2008 with Swedish wheelchair manufacturer Permobil; Gibson and co-inventor Campbell Easton have kept their patents on the chair, while Permobile distributes it with the much less snazzy name of the k450. Gibson and Easton have since despatched two containerloads of the k450 to the US, giving them access to the two largest paediatric wheelchair markets. they’ve kept the patents they hold for the chair, while Permobil handles sales and distribution.
Function is the EziRiser’s goal, but the inventors didn’t forget form. “One of the big things is it has to look good,” says Gibson. “Being in a wheelchair you get a lot of attention. I wanted to turn that into a positive thing—especially for kids, so they can be proud of the ride they’re in.”
