All-Star Interview: Theo Stewart-Strand
By Karina | October 29, 2007
Theo Stewart-Strand is a product designer based in NYC. He designed the Flatterware Collapsible Cups we posted about last week. I asked him a few questions:
Can you tell us a little about your design process?
We’ve been working on these cups for about three years. The idea came from a scale used to weigh flour: a glass with a spring. The spring compresses as the flour is poured in, thus telling you the weight.
I had an idea about how to squash a cup and have it be able to spring back into shape. Prototyping was circuitous; I tried springs, added a skin, removed the skin, and had a company make the structure to be more spring-like. Then we filed a patent.
The idea is that instead of throwing away countless cups you can reuse a single cup that won’t leak when closed. You can use it for water or coffee, and it can be put in the dishwasher, freezer or microwave.
There are future iterations in the design stages, but what we have is marketable and proof of the original concept.
What about the materials choice? A lot of people are concerned about plastics today.
We chose a plastic that can be ground-up and recycled easily. With disposable cups you have to consider the paper, the bleaching process, and the landfilling.
The choice of ABS plastic and TPE - Thermoplastic Elastomer - was deliberate. This is a material combination in a lot of consumer products (i.e. toothbrushes). We avoided food grade PVC which had some properties similar to the TPE because of its potential toxicity.
In the future, I’d like to be able to accept used cups back so I can recycle them into other products.
Plastic isn’t an ideal solution but it’s common. Right now material choices are limited. Eventually as scientists develop better materials, for example corn-based thermoplastic elastomers, we would like to switch to them. But right now as far as materials that spring up well, steel is too expensive, too difficult to work with and not pliable at this point.
A truly green solution would be to carry around metal or ceramic cup every day. Maybe in the future cups will be instantaneously produced when they’re needed, and once they’re used immediately digested by enzymes back to a usable organic substrate.
Who do you think will use this cup?
We hope it is an object for the everyday for both indoor and outdoor use. We use them in our office for both drinking coffee and fetching water from the water cooler. We are also going to market the product heavily to two other specific markets: the outdoor and promotional markets.
Because of the cups lightweight and durable design, we think it is a huge improvement over other camping/outdoor cups on the market.
In addition, our cup can easily can easily be custom printed.
Lastly, and what we have found fascinating, is the fact that children and people in general love the cup for its functionality, but also because it is a fun object to play with.
Where can people buy your cup?
We have quite a few of these cups in stock and more on the way. We’re working on the Flatterware.com webpage where we will sell them, and right now the cups are for sale in Solutions Catalog, and in some museum shops.
We’re hiring a PR firm and gearing up for a real launch in the new year.
Can you tell us about a few of your Tiny Choices?
My personal Tiny Choices? I carry a lot of canvas bags for shopping and turn out the lights when I leave the room. I buy green energy solutions from ConEd and keep the heat turned down in my apartment. I ride my bike a lot and I prefer windsurfing and soccer to motor sports. Also, we clean our apartment with baking soda, vinegar, and washing soda. We don’t purchase commercial cleansers and that helps us avoid more plastic waste in our lives as well as introducing unnecessary toxins into our environment.
Topics: All-Star Interviews |
Hi Theo! I love your cup! Two questions for you:
The idea is that instead of throwing away countless cups you can reuse a single cup that won’t leak when closed.
So does this mean that one can fill the cup with liquid, screw on the cap, and the cup won’t leak?
Also, can you please tell us what your own research found about the leaching/toxicity of the plastic? Are you sure that it’s safe with hot liquids, as well as cold?
Thanks!
I can’t answer the 2nd part, but you can’t put the cap back on after the cup is filled. the base and the top fit together to keep the cup squashed when you store it.
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