Coronavirus lockdown: remote learning tools to help parents and students
With parents undertaking remote learning for the second time round, there is one invention that could make your life easier. Here are some other innovations from businesses in lockdown.
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When coronavirus hit, it shut down many industries, and businesses have had to think outside the square to survive.
From making protective plastic screens to producing hand sanitiser, we take a look at some of the new ways companies have remained operating during the pandemic.
CARDBOARD DESKS
When the first lockdown hit earlier in the year Jonathan Lawson, business partner Luke, and the team of designers from their Surrey Hills company Kube, came up with the idea of making cardboard desks for children while they were learning remotely.
Mr Lawson has four children and when the lockdown hit, his wife said ‘We need four desks’.”
But Mr Lawson said he didn’t want to go out and buy the desks only for them to end up in hard rubbish after the lockdown was over.
“Then my business partner and my brother Luke said ‘Why don’t we design and make cardboard desks,’” Mr Lawson said.
“I think we conceived the idea and moved to production within a week and we’ve since sold about 3000 desks and counting.”
Known as Handy Desk, Mr Lawson said they were easy to put together, super lightweight and could easily be moved from room to room.
They are made in Melbourne from standard recycled cardboard, normally used for making cardboard boxes, and come in flat packs with assembly instructions. Once you’re finished with the desk you can put it away or place it straight into the recycling.
The business has also begun making adult-sized desks which have proved to be popular, with many companies buying them for their employees to use while working from home.
“Orders for the desks over the last three weeks since we’ve been in lockdown again have been going crazy,” Mr Lawson said.
Children’s desks start at $45 and adults $75.
Mr Lawson said Melbourne Museum had recently acquired one of the desks for its permanent collection as an item of significance for Victoria, that has helped define what has happened in the state over the last couple of months during lockdown.
Mr Lawson said the business had also started making an automatic hand sanitiser which had proved popular with small businesses around Australia.
It runs on batteries and puts out spray or gel sanitiser.
“We gave two cafes in our area one and I believe from those two alone we’ve sold over 100 units just because people love it, it’s a really nice looking product,” he said.
“We thought if we have to go through these things, let’s go through it with a bit of style.”
Mr Lawson said before the coronavirus pandemic, Kube used to specialise in retail design, designing retail stores and fixtures.
“For us we’re been trying to come up with things to help our business survive,” he said.
“We’ve got 10 designers from Melbourne and we’ve managed to keep all of them employed.
“We had to come up with new ideas quickly, and our team has been awesome.”
PROTECTIVE FACE SHIELDS
A Bayswater family business has made thousands of personal protective equipment (PPE) face shields for health workers during the COVID-19 crisis.
Cover Craft, a well-established boat cover manufacturing business, supplies boat covers Australia-wide and also export to New Zealand, Europe and China.
Brigitte Easton, who owns the business with husband Scott, said in late February they noticed on Facebook that their US based colleagues with similar businesses were starting to produce PPE face shields as well as surgical masks and gowns.
She said instead of cutting huge pieces of canvas for boat covers, they were now cutting large quantities of plastic face shields.
Ms Easton said they had guidance from a major Victorian hospital in developing the product, and had obtained Therapeutic Goods Administration certification as a medical device.
PROTECTIVE SCREENS
A Boronia business has turned its hand to making protective screens for pharmacies, supermarkets and medical centres during the coronavirus crisis.
Project22, a family-owned joinery, window and metal fabrication business has diversified to manufacture protective screens.
Director Deborah Fisher, who runs the business with husband Robert Vorpasso, said the screens offer a physical barrier between teller and customer by blocking out coughs, sneezes and saliva and act as a physical barrier to aid the elimination of touch contact.
Ms Fisher previously told Leader the business had to change in the wake of the coronavirus.
“We are shop fitters and we had (a lot of our work) all end in one day,” she said.
“Not that things were cancelled but just put on hold — no one was willing to commit because obviously many shops are closed.
“We saw a need for the screens and we thought we will get the machine in and manufacture them.”
EAR SAVER BAND
A Thomastown business owner has come up with a device to help ease the tension that often comes with wearing a face mask.
PACKQUEEN owner Monique Samara developed the Ear Saver Band, a piece of expandable plastic that you can hook onto the back of your mask to relieve the pressure around your ears.
“It was a combination of speaking to people, not only our staff but other businesses around us who had staff wearing masks who said they were getting pressure around the back of the ears; and it was just a rubbing, annoying feeling they were getting,” she said.
“And because traditionally we do manufacturing of packaging we thought that we wanted to look for a way to relieve that pressure off the back of the ears.”
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