When Parkinson's caused her grandfather to
spill his drinks, Lily Born decided to do something about it. So she came up
with the revolutionary 3-legged Kangaroo Cup and raised money via Kickstarter.
According to, Dr Brooke Magnanti, It was
a very specific brief that started 11-year-old Lily Born on the path to her
first design: her grandfather's battle with Parkinson's Disease. When the
family noticed that traditional cups and mugs simply weren't suitable for him
to use comfortably anymore - he was spilling his drinks - Lily took the
initiative to make something better.
The result was the original Kangaroo Cup: a
three-legged, ceramic mug that Lily launched on crowdsourcing site Kickstarter
to great acclaim. Lily raised just over the $6,000 (£3,540) she needed for
production in 30 days. So the Kangaroo became a reality. Not only was the cup
more stable, but it stacked easily, needed no coaster and didn't splash when
carried around, thanks to the rim gently curving inwards.
But the Kangaroo, for all its benefits, wasn't perfect. For one
thing it wasn't plastic, so could break and probably wouldn't be a great choice
for, say, families with young children. But going from a ceramic design to a
plastic one involves a lot more effort. So back to Kickstarter Lily went, with
a refined prototype and plans for new, appealing colours. But would backers be
able to carry the project over the $25,000 (£14,740) price tag necessary to
ensure quality and a fairly priced product?
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