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Euan Lind, former English teacher and inventor of award-winning 3D StemZ fidgible construction toy celebrates the fifth anniversary with the announcement of toy donations to RNIB and The Donaldson Trust.
Whilst teaching in Denmark, Euan, who has always been fascinated with geometry decided to retrain as a 3D designer, graduating with a postgraduate in interdisciplinary design from Napier University.
Initial projects included designing a light for Habitat and being involved in the design and renovation of Edinburgh’s Timberyard restaurant before launching the first iteration of the StemZ construction toy at the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 2016.
StemZ, which can also be found in classrooms across the country, is designed to promote fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and dexterity, encourages creative problem-solving skills and is also a great way for children to explore and understand 3D geometry. Now the toy is sold in outlets including John Lewis, Fenwick and Museums of Scotland, and Euan is celebrating achieving £270,000 of sales on the fifth anniversary of setting up the business.
Aimed at children aged 5-12, StemZ flexible pieces can be bent and twisted to make everything from bouncing balls to jumping creatures and crowns to motion wheels and even dressing up costumes, providing hours of fun.
Following feedback on the popularity of the 3D toy, including from parents of children with vision or hearing impairment or autism, StemZ has announced it is donating toys to RNIB and The Donaldson Trust.
Euan, who is currently a part-time lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art teaching ‘New Making’ to product design students, which focuses on innovative ways to use new digital manufacturing such as 3D printing, said: “I’ve always loved making things and although I enjoyed being a teacher, especially seeing first-hand the incredible imagination young kids have, I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be an inventor.
“After developing many prototypes at the early stages it was great to be able to finally invent a toy that would really encourage hands-on creative and imaginative play for kids and give them an understanding of 3D geometry.
“It’s a great milestone for us as we celebrate our 5thanniversary and I’m delighted that we are able to mark it with the donation of StemZ toys to two fantastic charities, RNIB and The Donaldson Trust and it’s also great to be teaching again, this time at College and about my favourite subject which is all things product-design related.”
Euan will be sharing the story of his entrepreneurial journey at Love Your Business networking club, founded in 2018 by Michelle Brown from the eponymous PR agency.
Tickets for the event, which is currently running online, on the 28th October from 11am till 12noon are £5 plus booking fee – https://bit.ly/3os827C with 50% of all ticket sales go to LYB’s community partner, Invisible Cities, which is a not-for-profit organisation that trains people who have experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides in their own cities.