Umbra, a Canadian houseware company wanted to design a paper towel holder. Normally they would look for design ideas within their own team. Instead, they turned to the over 1 MILLION engineers and designers on GrabCAD. Here's how GrabCADrs created a larger variety and higher quality concepts faster than ever.

1. The new way to design houseware

2. Umbra, a Canadian houseware company
wanted to design a paper towel holder.

3. Normally they would look
for design ideas within their own team.

4. Instead, they turned to the over one million
engineers and designers on GrabCAD.

5. Here's how GrabCADrs created a larger variety
and higher quality concepts faster than ever.

6. The Challenge
Design a paper towel holder for Umbra that is:
Simple and functional
Easy to manufacture and assemble
Easy to package, distribute and market
Consistent with Umbra design language and brand

7. 461 entries

8. 1st place - Phoenix
“We really felt that concept could be interesting. The designer focused on 2 real problems- keeping the paper roll from unraveling
and making it easy to tear with one hand. His solution is simple and effective - not always an easy thing to accomplish. With a few
tweaks this could be a very good commercial product.” -- Umbra
grabcad.com/library/phoenix-5

9. 2nd place - David Carcias
“This concept has just the right amount of simplicity and fun - without becoming to novel. We see this working well as part of a back
to school program with mass appeal. The challenge will be to make sure that the right price points are met without compromising on
the thickness of the metal or the design. Lastly, we only see this as vertical design- the horizontal design would take too much
footprint on the counter.” -- Umbra
grabcad.com/library/clip-shaped-towel-holder-2

10. 3rd place - Andjelic Zoran
“This designer took the time to research our company and understand what makes a successful Umbra product. We really like the
simplicity and the pop of colour with natural wood. To ensure this is a success, the material and weight needs to be perfect to have
the correct perceived value. We see this a wall mounted solution and with a few tweaks to the design, this could be great. We can
also envision this design be extended into other products such as a napkin holder.” -- Umbra
grabcad.com/library/paper-towel-holder-2

11. 4th place - Marc Senger
“We were really impressed with this designer in general. He had a wide breadth of concepts, all with unique points of view. In this
concept the idea to have the post as a reservoir for cleaning liquid with spray nozzle is clever. The handle looks great. The designer
gave consideration to where paper towel holder lives and how it moves from spot to spot. The handle also works to stop the paper
towel from unwinding and can be used as a tear bar.” -- Umbra
grabcad.com/library/umbra-reservoir-1

12. 5th place - Pekka Puhakka
“We fell in love the look and the materials of this concept however the overall footprint is an issue. We'd be interested in seeing this
concept as either a wall mounted or vertical solution.“ -- Umbra
grabcad.com/library/roukko-paper-towel-folder-1

13. “A big THANK YOU to all the participants in the Challenge. The response by the community
was terrific and the ideas that were generated were highly original and thought provoking.
Umbra has been collaborating in many ways with the design community to source new designs
for the home. We see this Challenge as a way to get better connected with the design
community and alternatively, offer designers from around the world a way to present their ideas
to a producer who can turn their ideas into reality.”
- Paul Rowan, Umbra Co-founder

14. Learn more
Umbra Paper Towel Holder Design Challenge results on GrabCAD
#umbra
#houseware
#crowdsourcing
#openengineering
#productdesign
#industrialdesign
#designchallenges
#grabcad
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