How it all began
S P E G E L Z O O M ® b y a w u m
T H E N E W M A G N I F Y I N G M I R R O R
At the turn of the last century Annika Winell, a ‘readingglasswearer’, started to think about if there was any better help than magnifying mirrors – and later on also makeup glasses – to see sharp at short distance in a mirror.
Such magnifying mirrors gave a sort of magnified image, it is true, but the visual aquity was too far away for the makeup needs a presbyopian has (a person after 45 years of age who needs reading glasses).
And to pluck the eyebrowes was impossible! With glasses on she couldn’t either see or reach the hairs and with no glasses she couldn’t see clear or sharp….this problem must be solved! And how easily the contact lenses then could be to put in…
A person in need is the mother of inventions, we have been told and so it happened to be… As a daughter of an inventor, with almost one hundred patents, Annika started to test and develop, with obstinacy and persistency and many different prototypes, in order to have the right look and feel of the product and to experience the visual aquity as wanted, on a handy distance from the mirror and without any glasses.
In autumn 2004 the company AWUM AB was founded. The trade mark SPEGELZOOM® by awum was registered and the graphical profile was decided.
Women of adequate ages and most of them long-sighted gave their testimonials and had the opportunity to test prototypes – a very, very good mirror, they said!!
Some different lenses of glass was purchased – the first one, from a manufacturer in Holland, were as much as SEK1800 (~€190) and was extremely clear, but too expensive. Now the matter was to find polished glass lenses to acceptable prices… The problemes turned out to be even more – the method for attachment to a mirror was not easy to solve. The solution suddenly appeared, when Annika visited a manufacturer in Stockholm and saw the suction cups, used when lifting cars…
There the idea came – so can we do ! New manufacturers were contacted and new prototypes were made. The product had many shapes, the design was protected by OHIM and even a patent was applied for…
But even more challenges were waiting – to glue rubber mould to the glass and get 100% air tight for vacuum appeared to be a difficult problem to solve.
Many exercises at the glue factory and a industrial robot found the method – now our secret recipe.
Then we had to make a shiny ring of stainless steel, lasermarked with our logotype – that took 6 months.
A brand new product was growing , always working, every day, for all long-sighted people , a product for all mirrors and for the rest of everybodies lives. It lasts and functions even when your vision changes over the years.
Easy to attach and to bring on the journey.
Since September 2006 the product is represented in an exhibition – ‘Inventions of women’ at the National museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm. Annika Winell has been nominated to ‘The Swedish woman inventor of the year’ – in both 2007 and 2008!.
This was the story of the SPEGELZOOM® by awum model Original – from November 2007 there is a new model -SPEGEL No1 – a complete magnifying mirror, with flat surface – even better to fasten to and as a designed complement to the ordinary bathroom mirror…another smart and stylish new product!
Copyright©Awum AB 2008
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