Gerontrepreneur Profile: Professor Designs Elder-friendly Furniture
Professor David J. Demko, PhD
AgeVenture News Service
If you design it, they will be comfortable. That's the idea behind a new line of furniture that's designed for the special needs and comfort of the nation's older population. And there's no time like the present to get things underway because the current older population of 32 million elders will soon be replaced by 76 million baby boomers.
The new furniture line, called LifeSpan Furnishings, is the brain-child of Professor Brian Donnelly who has received many recognitions for his ground-breaking designs for chairs and other furniture products. His innovative design approach offers great news for today's elders, the caregivers of aging parents and the millions of boomers who will embrace nothing less than products that bring dignity and grace to the aging process by fusing function, form and style.
Here's how it all began. In 1990, Donnelly found himself spending time with an aging and ailing father. For the first time, he envisioned his future-self thirty years down the road. As I understand Donnelly's futurist experience, he saw the future, and his enthusiasm for growing older was ... easily contained. Not one to dwell on the negative, the good professor transformed his disappointment into a great business opportunity. Donnelly set out to design products for the elderly and people with disabilities.
Today, the journey continues with the creation of a line of patented, universally designed furniture and the formation of a company appropriately named "LifeSpan Furnishings, LLC. The memory of his father still inspires him. "I want to remove the signs stuck to people's back labeling them as "old people" or "handicap" - products for seniors should be products we can all use and cherish. This is something that companies will have to understand and implement for them to have a stake in the huge and growing
aging world market."
There's a lesson here for venture capitalists. The proverbial "ivory tower" isn't inhabited exclusively by idealists, but men of action. Ideas and actions that are characteristically inventive, practical, and profitable. It should be easier than it currently is to forge the talents of business and academia. Look for the emergence of specially trained brokers capable of creating public-private ventures designed to address the needs of our rapidly graying society.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Cabinet-Maker Wins Top Aging Design Award
Kmart Ventures Into Elder Health Market
Johns Hopkins Joint-Ventures Wellness Clinics
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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David Demko reports on lifestyle issues and trends in Aging America.
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