Our client wanted a Yo-Yo that users could race off its string like a wheel, so we developed a mechanism and obtained a worldwide patent. The Go-Yo sold 10 million units in its first year on the market. The ‘C’ clip patent is very simple thus difficult to get around.
Category Archives: Consumer
G-Clip Earphone Cable Tidy
Our client wanted a plastic clip designed to keep earphone cables tidy and tangle-free when not in use. Drawing inspiration from young, MP3-playing consumers, we developed a product that reinforced the client’s brand and came in a range of colours and finishes.
Cufflink Design
Charlwood Design’s patented design for an easy-fit cufflink resulted in a low-cost plastic product, sold in sets of five so users could have a different set for each day of the week. This product completely rethinks how cufflinks are bought and sold.
Dustpan Range
Charlwood was asked by Oates to redesign their complete range of dustpans.
The flagship Oates ‘space saving’ dustpan is an innovative, class leading product that can be stored standing upright. Even in this very mature product there was room to innovate, the brush features a rubber blade, soft rubber grip and flagged bristles for optimal cleaning. The bold, durable dustpan and brush continues Oates’ design strategy for producing eye-catching, friendly and innovative products. The dustpan is significantly larger than its competitors with moulded side ridges to clean the brush. Electrostatic properties in the rubber edges attract and trap dust and fine particles.
Charlwood has a long standing relationship designing innovative products for Oates.
Blade Broom
The Oates household broom range designed by Charlwood has been a tremendous success for the company, highlighting the value quality Australian design can bring to an ordinary household product. The premium ‘blade broom’ has an integrated electrostatic rubber blade to attract fine particles and rubber bumpers to protect walls and furniture. The blade wipes fine particles of the floor that are normally left behind.It carries on the distinctive head shape that gives the Oates broom range a sleek, durable and modern appearance. Quality design can give fresh appeal to the humble broom as an effective, environmentally sensitive alternative to constantly vacuuming.
Charlwood has a long standing relationship designing innovative products for Oates.
Catch-All 3 in 1 broom set
Charlwood was commissioned to create a new pull broom for Oates. Whilst the longer bristles on common pull brooms allow you to get into corners when cleaning there was a great opportunity to refine the shape of the bristles to clean skirting boards more easily. The unique shape of the broom head was specially designed to clip to a small dustpan and brush set with the innovative space saving design ensuring that it was easy to access whenever you need it.
This product was awarded a Melbourne Design Award for best consumer product
Charlwood has a long standing relationship designing innovative products for Oates.
Sqwivel Mop
Charlwood design was engaged to bring a fresh approach to the swivelling squeeze mop from the Oates range. The old design had numerous metal parts that were difficult to assemble and following on from the successful design of the tiltamatic mop Charlwood were able to create a fresh and elegant design, reducing the number of parts whilst improving the function. A unique swivelling mechanism was developed to allow the user to easily pivot the mop head as they clean. A simple, intuitive sponge release/attachment mechanism was also developed. This product was a awarded an Australian Design award (good design).
Charlwood has a long standing relationship designing innovative products for Oates.
Tiltamatic Squeeze Mop
Charlwood was asked by Oates to rethink their flagship Squeeze Mop to remove the metal spring that was causing difficulty in manufacturing and adding assembly costs. The Oates squeeze mop was redesigned to remove all metal components and resulted in three individual patented design features. The end result reduced production cost, increased quality and performance and with the compete unit made out of polypropylene and free of adhesives, is fully recyclable.
In production since 2007 the tiltamatic is a best selling, iconic product for Oates.
Charlwood has a long standing relationship designing innovative products for Oates.
Dishbrush Range
Charlwood design was asked to create a complete range of dishbrushes for Oates. They make up 3 market segments ‘Good’, ‘Better’ and Best’
Each is distinguished by feature, colour and value, so it is very clear to the end user what they are purchasing. They are specially designed to clean pots, saucepans, glasses and bottles. Featuring hard and soft scrapers to remove tough stains and they won’t damage teflon-coated pots. The range includes radial head, round and cylindrical head. The Soft grip handle gives ergonomic advantages and the dish brushes float so they can be easily located and removed from hot water. Charlwood also created a new ergonomic handle as part of an update to the range.
The brushes were extensively prototyped to evaluate and refine the form for comfort and function.
Charlwood has a long standing relationship designing innovative products for Oates.
Ezy Squeeze Cone Wringer Mop
Charlwood was asked to give a facelift to the humble cone wringer mop. The previous product was a dull, off the shelf design that did not have the look and feel of the rest of the Oates range created by Charlwood. The result was an elegant design with a more appealing shape to the consumer. The ergonomic shape of the handle was refined so it smoother and more comfortable to hold.
The result was a much better looking product and more importantly a growth in sales for Oates.
Charlwood has a long standing relationship designing innovative products for Oates.