Fysiek Fabriek

Client: Fokus FysiekFabriek Date: October 2022 - February 2023

FysiekFabriek is an initiative of designers Aurore Brard and Lotte de Haan. “FysiekFabriek realises tailor-made assisted living aids by connecting people with a physical disability, care providers and the local creative and making industry. Together they work from an obstacle in the daily life of people with a physical disability to a solution that fits!” (fysiekfabriek.nl)

Case 1: Yvette’s pencil point

Yvette enjoys drawing with her head-mounted pencil. However to sharpen her pencil she needs to ask for help. To become more independent, she would like to be able to sharpen her own pencil and enjoy drawing without distractions. Together, we overcame her reluctance against electric pencil sharpeners. Next, we fabricated an electric pencil sharpener mounted on her desk, loaded by springs to conform to Yvette’s pencil angle.

Case 2: Nicole’s breathing support tube

Nicole needs some support to keep her lungs inflated. For this she had a breathing tube throught a lock-line pipe, bent to be near her mouth so she could easily move the mouthpiece to take a breath. This existing solution however had a flaw: it was too flexible. When riding her wheelchair, the tube would vibrate out of position. Or when leaving her wheelchair to use the bathroom, the tube would be moved out of the way. Getting it back into position was a lengthy process of minute adjustments.

Together we replaced the lock-line tube with a custom aluminium exoskeleton, with just a few pivot points rather than the 50 points in the lock-line. It is easy to move out of the way and back into position in second, and importantly: matches the aesthetic of her wheelchair.