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Click the peeler to see it in
3-D
How do you make an idea into
reality? When Sam Farber, founder of OXO, and Davin Stowell, founder
of Smart Design, had the idea to create a better vegetable peeler
they threw away all of the old ideas about kitchen products and
started from scratch.
 An urgent late night call from France gave birth
to the idea for OXO. Sam Farber, the retired owner of Copco, was
vacationing with his wife, pursuing their passion for cooking. While
preparing to entertain friends with a light lunch, Sam noticed
Betsey's mild arthritis was causing her pain while peeling the
apples for a tart. Unable to get the image out of his mind, that
night Sam placed a call to New York to talk to his long-time friend
Davin Stowell, the founder of a product development firm, Smart
Design. They talked in-depth about the gross inadequacies of simple
everyday cooking tools. Entrepreneurs by nature, the two friends
realized there was a need for better cooking tools that would make
even the simplest task, like peeling a potato, easier for everyone.
Hundreds of models were produced by carving Styrofoam and wood
mock-ups. Designers looked at all types of handles: tool handles,
utensil handles, and equipment handles. Why couldn't they try to
create a handle that had a soft, squishy feel that invites you to
grab it? And so grab it they did - left hands, right hands, hands
with arthritis, small hands, hands with crooked fingers, hands of a
mailman, next-door neighbor hands - no hand or handle model went
untested.
 At the same time designers were working on
developing the swivel peeler, they were also working on prototypes
for all the introductory group of OXO household gadgets, so the
handle needed to work equally well on all the products. Achieving a
comfortable handle for everyone - especially for people with limited
manual dexterity - was only part of the solution. The handle also
needed to be beautiful and inviting so people would want to touch
it. In short, the handle had to be superior in looks, comfort, and
utility.
 But the story doesn't stop with the handle. The
blade on the peeler had to be as sharp as a samurai sword. In fact,
the original people who made the blade for OXO earned their
reputation producing samurai swords! Even the thickness of the peel
was designed to be between .8-1 millimeter, so only the skin of the
vegetable would be removed. The peeler became what would be the
first in the long line of kitchen tools for OXO based on the
principle of Universal Design-products designed for everyone to use.
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