First Prize in the international HANDITEC competition

Natali Poznansky, a graduate of the Department of Industrial Design, won the first prize in the INTERNATIONAL HANDITEC COMPETITION 2020 \ 2021 in France.

Photo: Dor Lovton

The theme of the competition was "kitchen products for the disabled".

The "Hand-On" product series presented by Natali is based on her final project in the Faculty of Design under the direction of Prof. Gad Charny.

Natali explains: “Around the world there are millions of people who have to deal on a daily basics with various challenges and difficulties due to a wide range of disabilities in the hands.

The product range I have developed includes three gadgets for the kitchen environment for those people who due to amputation, paralysis, congenital malformation, weakness or any other reason, are forced to fulfill routine tasks using tools designed for the general public who does not suffer from their disabilities.

I chose to focus on three main difficulties which are: peeling and slicing vegetables and fruits, lifting a pot from the stove and moving it from place to another and washing dishes by hand. This product line comes a full circle from the preparations, through the cooking to the cleaning afterwards. all using in one hand only.

While working on the project, I emphasized that the end products will be intuitive to use, stable and safe and will contribute to strengthening the user's sense of ability, independence and empowerment, so that he can work in the kitchen without the help of another person while achieving the same results".

Upon graduation, Natali participated in FUTURE's Accelerator, HIT's Center for entrepreneurship.

In light of Covid-19 restrictions, the competition took place digitally with the general public and the judging panel voting simultaneously.
The judges noted in their reasoning the perfect fit of Natali's products to the requirements of the competition and awarded her the first prize of 3000 Euros.