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Karim Hisham

Emerging Product Design of the Year 2022

Interview with Karim Hisham about ePDA Emerging product Design of the Year: morph

 

Q: It must have been really difficult as a student to bring this concept to life. What served as the project’s main source of inspiration?

Morph came to life after I spent a day with disabled children at an orphanage, seeing their struggles, their dreams, and all the things they want to try and accomplish.. all that was stopping them is a missing limb.

From that day on I promised myself that I will do everything I can to Improve the situation and help them overcome their challenges.

Q: ePDA Emerging Product Design of the Year 2022 goes to you. What does receiving this honor mean to you and how will it shape your journey moving forward?

Winning this award will definitely made me believe in my abilities more and gave me a strong foundation to my career 

Q: Was there any moment during your process that you found challenging?

Trying out hundreds of materials, structures and techniques to make the end product as available as possible to those who cannot afford it without compromising the human gait cycle of the prosthesis.

While also making the prosthesis fully customizable.

Q: Due to the low cost of the prosthesis, your project’s target audience is comprised of individuals from developing countries. Could you share the reason behind it? 

I was born and raised in Egypt, like many African countries it’s a developing country where some individuals cannot afford a proper prosthesis that fits the environment they live in or can help them complete every day tasks.

So the goal was to make a prosthesis that costs less than the standard (SACH) prosthesis model. While having an energy storing foot.

Q: Who or what influenced you while you were studying, and how did that influence your current style?

I looked at the nature for inspiration, seeing how the nature creates structures that uses the least amount of materials and energy to fulfill a desired purpose, And i wanted to implement that in the prosthesis to achieve a good strength to weight ratio using lattice structures.

Q: In your opinion, what has been the most challenging aspect of your journey so far?

The constant Testing of the prosthesis on amputees and the rapid changes in the design to better fit the needs of the user.

Q: After this enormous success, do you have anything new planned (if you could share it with us)?

I plan to complete the morph model and keep the files and the design as an open source project so everyone, anywhere in the world can download the files and help someone else.

View Emerging Product Design of the Year 2022 here.