Current Students and Staff

// University News

21 Mar 2014

Graduate makes losing a thing of the past

Geco Hub by Simon Lyons

Award-winning graduate Simon Lyons is on the verge of launching an innovative product guaranteed to get us organised.

When he graduated in 2013, Simon joined the Studio and launched design company Version 22.

Since then, he has been developing a number of products, including Geco Hub which he describes as a wall-mounted grab-and-go storage unit for life’s essentials like keys, wallets and phones.

“I wanted to design a product that could be regularly reconfigured in just a few minutes without tools,” Simon explains. “Geco Hub evolves as your environment, tastes and needs change.”

Simon originally started work on Geco Hub as part of his third year project, and has since tested dozens of iterations to get it right.

“Various members of staff across the University have been really generous in their support along the way,” Simon acknowledges.

“My project supervisor, Bob Young, really helped me get the ball rolling – and the advice from Dick Heath, Ali Ansarifar and Barry Haworth on polymers was invaluable. Several people, including Julie Holland (The Glendonbrook Centre for Enterprise Education) and Peter Davies (Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Innovation) really helped me knock my business plan into shape.

“More recently, fellow Studio members – Future Fresh and The Creative Circle – have worked with me on Version 22 product photography and my Kickstarter campaign.

“Without everyone’s encouragement and help I could well have lost focus and shelved the project when I graduated. As it is, I’m now ready to market launch Geco Hub.”

However, turning a concept into a commercial reality is an expensive business. So, Simon is launching a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to raise the rest of the funds he needs to get Geco Hub into shops.

“Exciting as Geco Hub might sound, without a Kickstarter success it could take years to get onto shelves. I’m hoping to raise £35,000 in 35 days to make Geco Hub a reality.”

To find out more about Geco Hub, please visit the Version 22 website.