The Inventor's Mind

We are good friends with our fellow inventors at Edison Nation, (www.edisonnation.com), who conduct live product and invention searches to find new ideas for corporations to pursue. They also recently launched a $25 Million Innovation Fund. This fund is going to be used to invest in high potential inventions and patents with funding up to $250,000 per invention, in order to prepare them for market. This money will be spent on R&D, engineering, patent and IP protection, and marketing materials. The Fund is sure to be an exciting opportunity for those who make it in.

We are extremely pleased to be able to announce that one of our inventors, Trevis Kurz, has had his invention (which we helped him develop and patent) selected to move forward in the Edison Nation Innovation Fund. Trevis’s already well-developed invention will get even closer to a production ready design, as well as a great boost from Edison Nation’s high profile. Trident Design will be there along the way, working with their team to perfect the device and bring it to market.

After a long, eventful, and very productive week Chris, Andy, and I have parted ways and returned to our respective homes. We lived the life for four days in Las Vegas walked numerous miles through the convention center for the National Hardware and Garden Tradeshow and had many great business dinners and breakfasts. All in all it was one of our most productive tradeshows to date. We secured many great leads for licensing products, caught up with old friends and and industry contacts and made new ones. Las Vegas is an interesting place its like a huge mirage in the middle of the desert, nothing seems real and it at times seems like one big illusion. The fun things I highly suggest you doing when in Vegas: If you have a chance, see a Cirque De Soleil performance( there are seven to choose from) they are all stunning, visit Tao in the Venetian Hotel there is 30 foot Buddha in the dining room and the food is amazing,lf you need a break from the bright lights head out to the desert,within 45 minutes there are several fantastic national parks.

A few things that we noticed from the show and everyone should keep their eyes open for are:

1. Powersquid- Had great exposure at the show, it was relaunched under the Stanley brand and was front and center in their booth, they are releasing four new models and have more lined up for the future.

2. Command 1- The line of 14 products that we redesigned for the Westinghouse brand were out front and center as well, looking very stunning I might add.

3. The Tough horse- is an innovative take on the sawhorse which solves the problem of them just being awkward and having multiple components. Not to mention its just cool which means a lot in the world of design.

If you want a closer look at our trip you can see our pictures on our new facebook page at Trident Design, LLC.

-Nile

It’s getting to be beautiful outside, the sun is shining, there is a nice breeze, and the trees and flowers are starting to bloom.  Besides a grateful feeling that we are out of winter the one thing that’s on my mind is FLIMSEE!!!  First of all Flimsee is a great grass roots game that was created and branded here in Columbus, Ohio by independent inventor named John Mally.  It revolves around two Frisbees and two goals consisting of sticks with cups on them.  The object is to throw the Frisbees through your opponents sticks or knock off the cups for points, if they catch the cup that’s been knocked off then you lose a point.  It can be played at an intense pace or leisurely, with cup in hand, or multiple players.  You can play by the rules or make up your own, everything about the game is flimsy hence the name flimsee.  Trident is involved with John Mally in this business from the creative and manufacturing side.  Together we are hoping to lift this grass roots game into your lawn and many lawns around you, you can take a closer look at www.flimsee.com.  Check it out, give us some feedback or even buy a set.

One of the many perks of being an intern/ marketing assistant for Trident Design is my ride.  The job comes with coffee in the mornings, the occasional business lunch out, and most importantly my Xootr designed by Lunar Design.  It’s a streamlined scooter that allows me to cruise around the short north of Columbus in style and rather quickly at that.

The design of it is real sleek; it plays on the collapsible scooter theme that was all the rave a few years ago with the razor scooters, etc.  But it does so in a much higher quality fashion.  The base on which you stand is wide with nice grip and a wood surface it has an upgraded hand brake system which is far superior to the foot brake that was common place on scooters in past years.  One of the highlights of the product is its collapsibility which is also one of the biggest pit falls of this product.  The mechanism that allows you to collapse the scooter isn’t very user friendly, at best.  This isn’t enough to deter me from riding it though.  All in all it is a great product, with nice design, and it will definitely add value to your everyday life.

-Nile

Thing-o-Matic

There has been tremendous progress and movement within the inventing and design process over the past few years.  Changes in the programs we use, materials and plastics, machinery and moldings, etc.  The prototyping phase of the design process, where you make a real world model of what you’ve been digitally mapping, has grown especially dramatically with the rise of 3D printing.  These very expensive industrial machines (often generically called SLA machines) have been becoming more and more affordable, but still cost tens of thousands of dollars. But now there is a much smaller but still effective machine that the “common man” can afford and understand.  The machine I am referring to is the MakerBot Thing-o-Matic.  Basically, it is a very small rapid prototyping machine that can produce a quite precise and sturdy prototype. It is actually billed as a personal factory rather than a prototype maker, and can produce objects you create in 3D or download from their online library. The cool thing is, you build the Thing-o-Matic yourself from a kit. It’s like a giant LEGO set. Trident has recently purchased a kit ($1250) and Chris is in the process of assembling with our IT guy, Ryan, from GridStorm, LLC. We’ll come back to you with a review once we have it up and running. Wish us luck!

-Nile

Housewares Show 2011

After a long hiatus of various events, eleven days spent with his family in St. Croix immediately followed by four days in Chicago for the Housewares show, Chris has made his way back to Trident, Columbus, and all the other things in his life.  Besides a tan, he brought back some interesting tales of things to come in the houseware market, some from Trident and some from others.  I would imagine that most people who read this blog are familiar with our company, but for those who aren’t a large portion of the products we work on are in the kitchen department.  Some of the products we have on the market like the Perfect Peeler, the Onion Goggles, or the Cut N’ Serve were born at the housewares show, and this year a few more made their way to Chicago to be oohed and awed.  Amongst those were the java mitt(with RSVP), a flexible silicone cup handle for take away cups, the Style Station (with Polder), a bathroom organizer/caddy, and the Pitzo(with Lifetime Brands and Rosle), an innovative pizza cutter that has yet to hit the market.   A few more things that Chris mentioned to look out for were:

· Black and Blum- a very stylish and well designed line of kitchen gadgets

· Joseph Joseph- innovative utensils for your culinary needs

· De La Terra- one of Chris’s favorites, this line is composed of beautifully crafted organic culinary pottery

-Nile

Hello Everyone! Here we are in 2009 and already a month has gone by. I can hardly believe it. This has already been an action-packed year at Trident Design, LLC. It started with our annual journey to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (The CES), which this year was January 11th-14th. I take several people from my team with me and we have meetings with potential design clients, existing customers for the products we sell ourselves, our sales reps and freinds in the industry. We also cover almost every square foot of the enormous show, checking out all the latest products.

In the CE insdustry, there are actually relatively few “inventions” in a given year. Almost all of what you see are variations on the same major categories. So what you see are TVs, headphones, speakers, cables, game systems, etc. Other industries, like housewares, have much more room for the inventor, since there are many more categories of product. Yet, there are always a few cool things to see at CES. This year I liked the Eye-fi system, these cool globes, and the ClickFree Harddrive. Flexible OLEDs were the technology breakthrough on display, as well as several forms of wireless power.

Regardless of which industry you work in, I definitely recommend going to the CES if you are inventing stuff, because there is lots of great eye-candy of all sorts and plenty to inspire you. The vibe in Vegas is fun for a few days, and there is lots of great design everywhere. If you walk around the Sands Convention Center, where they have the smaller half of the CES, you will see all the smaller companies and their innovative products. I recommend eating out of the strip hotels for superior dining experiences. Origin India is great Indian food (the portions seem small at first and then fill you to bursting!) and the Golden Steer is a true classic steakhouse with

Get to know people! I have been going to CES for 8 years now. Because I keep showing up, I now have lots of friends in the community that gathers around it. People I met one year are now old friends, and as the circle of my industry friends grows, so do the number of opportunities that come Trident’s way. Just introduce yourself and look for opportunties. Everyone there is looking to do business, so you don’t need to be shy about your motivations.