Zhang Yang

nicolezyyy@163.com

TAKING medicine is not always a pleasant task, especially for elderly patients. A medication grinder designed by a Dutch company provides a good solution, as it can grind the pills into powder in a few seconds so that the medicine can be mixed into food or drinks.

The medication grinder is one of the over 7,000 exhibits being displayed at the 5th Shenzhen International Industrial Design Fair (SZIDF) that opened at Hall 2 of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center yesterday. Organized by Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association, the three­day fair is hosting 271 exhibitors from over 30 countries and regions.

Paul Hendrikx, founder of the Dutch company Studio Mango, said the grinders are mainly used in nursing homes and hospitals for elderly people or mentally ill patients who cannot swallow the pills.

According to him, the grinder on display at the fair is the latest generation and is 12 times smaller than the previous generation.

He said they made the grinder more portable as many elderly people in Europe choose to stay at their homes instead of nursing homes nowadays, so the nurses have to bring the grinders to their homes because the grinders are only for professional use.

Hendrikx said the grinders were manufactured in Shenzhen. “If you make electronics and medical devices, I think Shenzhen is the best place in the world to make it,” he said.

The Dutch designer said the fair offered him a good opportunity to meet new people and become involved in some innovative projects. “For me, the passion is making products helpful for people. Of course the product must look nice, but if it really solves a problem for somebody, making their life easier or more pleasurable, then that’s something we aim to do,” he said.

A swimsuit designed by a Shenzhen­based company caught many people’s eyes during the fair. The swimsuit enables children to keep their balance in the water and its adjustable buoyancy control system allows the children to develop their swimming skills in a safe and measured way.

The company was co­founded by Lan Hadlow, a designer from the United Kingdom, and his Australian partner six years ago. Most of the company’s designers are from overseas and it designs for both Chinese and international companies.

“The main difference between Chinese and international clients is their understanding of what design is, what it can do for their business and how much it costs,” he said, adding that sometimes he has to explain these things to his Chinese clients, but the situation is getting better.

A projector that can also work as a ceiling LED light was exhibited by JGB Industrial Product Design Co., Ltd. from Jiangsu Province yesterday. The projector is the first of its kind in China and was originally designed by the winner of the first prize in a design competition hosted by the company last year.

“Our company also works as an incubator. We helped the designer improve his design by making the project suitable for mass production and tailoring it to the market,” said Li Runan, an industrial designer of the firm.

According to her, the company will set up an R&D center at the Sino­Finnish Design Park in Futian District by the end of the year. “I think Shenzhen is developing rapidly in the field of industrial design. It has more industrial design resources than Jiangsu, which is why we want to set up an R&D center here so that we can realize our design ideas in a very efficient way,” she said.