“I first came up with the idea when my grandmother developed osteo-arthritis. She was really struggling to handle a saucepan. Quite instantly, I came up with the idea of the handle being bent, it all started there.” Whilst coming up with her idea seemed simple, it was with the difficult up-hill struggle of taking it to market where Knowledge Dock’s support proved utterly crucial.

 

In 2004, Knowledge Dock introduced Celia to the East London Inventors Club (ELIC), who in turn put her forward for the British Inventor’s Show, where Handl Cookware* sparked a surge of industry interest and swept up the prestigious Platinum Award for British Consumer Invention of the Year.

 

“The British Inventors Show was an enormous turning point. Prior, I felt so unsupported and dismayed at the industry that I was at a breaking point, but winning the award gave me the confidence to pursue my product completely. Introducing me to ELIC has been absolutely key to where I am today. The support I have had through the people I had met, through other inventors further down the line than me or at a similar stage or something completely different; that network has been absolutely invaluable and I would not have known that it had existed were it not for Rob Moss [Knowledge Dock’s Technology Services Manager].

 

“I sat down with Rob and with Matt Hurley and went through where I was at and where I needed to go. Knowledge Dock produced a rapid prototype model for me. Rob was really supportive in terms of bouncing ideas off of him from an education standpoint, and I had access to marketing reports, guiding me through the initial stages when I was writing my business plan.

 

“It was great just to have some friendly people you can trust, who didn't have a harmful interest in the products themselves so you knew they weren't there to screw you in any way. You could quite simply phone up, bounce an idea and get some feedback.

 

 “I have made a huge learning curve and lots of contacts in industry. I have got myself a much better manufacturer, with a big distribution chain set up as a result of all the contacts I have been making.” D+ctor Cook is looking likely to be distributed in Australia, NZ, Korea, Japan, UK and US within the next 12 months.

 

For more information, visit: http://www.doctorcookware.com/