Drying Made Easier
When her two youngest children came to visit from college over spring break, Aimee Roberson was thrilled to have her family back together. COVID-19 shut colleges down, though, turning a quick visit into a long-term stay. Aimee’s home soon became the bustling headquarters for five active adults who used water bottles. Virus concerns led to even more washing than usual, and Aimee’s kitchen counter soon became cluttered with clean water bottles that weren’t quite dry enough to put away.
To speed up the drying process, first, she used paper towels and a wooden spoon to get those last drops of moisture out of the bottom of the bottles, but it was time-consuming, and not very efficient. Oftentimes, the bottles still needed to air dry because she just couldn’t reach all of the leftover water.
Aimee and her middle daughter, a mechanical engineer, put their heads together to design a better tool for the job. Since stores were closed, they raided the junk drawer and garage, using everything from popsicle sticks to glue guns until they settled on a design that had a lot of potential. Aimee called her invention, DryMeister.
Partnering for success
Aimee has always wanted to invent something and she finally felt she had landed on an invention that could be viable and useful for people from all walks of life. Everyone from restaurant owners and bartenders to florists and homemakers could use DryMeister to make sure their glasses, wine carafes, vases, and water bottles were completely dry and streak-free.
But Aimee needed a partner to help her design the idea for manufacturing. After reaching out to a few different companies, she chose to collaborate with Gembah to bring her concept to life. Gembah’s compelling, detail-oriented design proposal and a team of knowledgeable experts assured Aimee that her idea was in excellent hands.
Drier by design
Aimee wanted her product to be ultra-absorbent, using a material that would quickly and efficiently dry items. The drying heads needed to be interchangeable, allowing users to replace them as needed.
Gembah’s designers took the product through several iterations, working with Aimee to tweak the design until it perfectly matched her vision. Gembah also helped design the interchangeable head mechanism, and finally located a factory in China that could meet the production and packaging demands.
Through their contact in China, Gembah coordinated design details with the factory to eliminate errors in the manufacturing process.
An irreplaceable team
With Gembah’s help, Aimee’s product is now in production and for sale on their website and listed on Amazon.
“It’s been phenomenal. I’ve loved working with everyone, and I really appreciate the value and expertise that Gembah brings. I didn’t know anything about product design and manufacturing, and that’s where Gembah really took the idea from my simple drawings and homemade prototypes to a market-ready product,” said Aimee. “Everyone is professional and respectful to each other. That’s their company culture, and that’s what I want to be a part of, where people are respectful and open to ideas. I feel like I have a great partner, and I couldn’t have done this without [Gembah].”
-Aimee Roberson, DryMeister Founder