Surrey-based
Zeal Lifestyle, a manufacturer of mobility aids for supported living, was formed after its two founders Georgia Williams and Joshua King — who had both studied industrial design at Brunel University in London — independently looked into purchasing a walker for family members.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, Georgia William’s 86-year-old great aunt needed a walker to use both indoors and outdoors to support her mobility; and despite intensive searching she could not find a stylish walker that suited her great aunt’s ‘stylish tastes and personality’.
This situation prompted the founders of Zeal Lifestyle to design a walker that put the end user first, and at the end of last year, the company opened for pre-orders having earned ‘global recognition’ and awards for its design, including the
Unlocking Potential Award by Innovate UK. The full and official launch, which will include delivery of pre-orders and an opening for direct retail options to purchase, is scheduled for the summer of 2025.
The Zeal walker is coming to market following four years of collaboration with users and a comprehensive product development process that aimed to remove the stigma of walkers and mobility aids, and provide a product that users ‘are proud to be seen with’.
For the prototyping of Zeal’s plastic parts, the team worked with
3D People, which used selective laser sintering (SLS) and multi-jet fusion (MJF) processes — along with its finishing options — to ensure Zeal received the high-quality parts required both reliably and fast.
Mr King said: “Over the past year, we have ordered around 500 parts in SLS and MJF for various prototypes and design iterations. The MJF process is great for parts that need to be smooth and after post-processing; indeed, it is hard to tell them apart from injection-moulded parts. SLS works better for visual parts since the off-white finish is more aesthetically pleasing than MJF’s dark grey.
He concluded: “We switch between the two different processes depending on the stage of design. Costs are also important, of course, and these can also vary based on part size and process used, so that is something we factor in too, but it is an easy thing.”