Blue Orchid Patient Lift
Client: Blue Orchid, 2014
Design: Cortex Design Inc.
Photo Credit: Various
Design: Cortex Design Inc.
Photo Credit: Various
Blue Orchid CEO Sina Afshani was caring for an elderly loved one who needed assistance getting out of bed. When he went to go out and buy an assistive device to make this easier, he found a surprising gap: the only existing products either didn’t help at all, or cost $10,000.
Sina decided to use his industrial design background to fill that gap. He began to design his new assistive device, joining the Innovation Factory incubator in Hamilton. He worked with a small engineering firm to develop a prototype, but hit a wall in development: Blue Orchid needed a partner to go back to original requirements and deliver a design that was not only deeply functional, but beautiful enough to belong in the home or a long-term care facility.
Cortex’s deep integration of engineering and user experience made us an ideal partner. When we saw Sina’s project, we believed in its human value immediately: the need is obvious, and we knew we could help deliver the solution. That led us to become an investor as well, and we leveraged our network of manufacturing vendors to get Blue Orchid across the finish line and into production.