CR1 Wheelchair by Doug Garven

---

DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

DG : The idea was to create a state of the art, custom fabricated, high-end carbon fiber wheelchair. This design was inspired by aerodynamic racing bicycles and Formula 1 race cars.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

DG : The main goal was to develop a design out of carbon fiber, that could be fabricated in different configurations and sizes to accommodate each user's unique body shape and dimensions.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

DG : To continue spreading the word about the CR1 and that it is available to purchase.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

DG : This design was a collection of ideas I've accumulated over the years working on other projects and never had the right time or project to utilize. The design concept phase was relatively quick, about 6 months. The execution phase to get the chair into production took almost 5 years.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

DG : As mentioned, this design was a collection of ideas I've had from over 30 years of wheelchair designs. This was the first project I was given an open book in terms of development costs and material selections. The use of carbon fiber as the primary material allowed the realization of this project.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

DG : It is for sale through the company TiLite, a wheelchair manufacturer out of Pasco, WA, USA. They are a division of the parent company Permobil out of Sweden.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

DG : As both a wheelchair designer and a chair user from a car accident while attending school, I have an inside understanding what this type of wheelchair needs to do. Both, from a physical-functional needs perspective as an assistive device but also the phycological of having a really cool and aesthetically pleasing design to help minimize the sociological stigma of being a wheelchair user.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

DG : Within the industry, no, but plenty of inspirations drawn from the outside world. Aero race bikes and Formula 1 race cars, especially their wings and aerodynamic concepts.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

DG : The target customer is an experienced chair user who knows what they want from a performance perspective and how they want to sit in their chair.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

DG : The two main distinguishing features of this design are the profile shape of the frame tubing and the unique, front-end design of the chair which incorporates a dual-angled design that lets the user get closer to objects for improved accessibility.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

DG : The name CR1 follows in the tradition of other TiLite chair designs which are abbreviations of the functional descriptions. CR1 is short for (Carbon Rigid and 1 designates the first model in this material).

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

DG : This entire project was designed using SolidWorks.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

DG : The unique frame profile and tube shape sets the chair apart aesthetically, but of equal importance is the ability to custom fabricate each chair to the user's dimensions to match their unique body shape and individual preferences.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

DG : This project was designed in-house at TiLite but also relied upon some outside vendor's inputs to enable the manufacturing and commercialization. Lot's of input from Engineers in different departments.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

DG : Technology was instrumental in the design's creation, everything from CAD modeling, FEA analysis to order entry and CNC part fabrication.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

DG : Yes, advanced composite FEA analysis was completed to ensure the chair's strength and weight targets were being met before extensive physical durability testing was performed to ensure the design's viability and safety.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

DG : Trying to ensure the product's strength and safety while trying to keep the weight down by minimizing part and fastener sizes in every component.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

DG : I wanted to find a way to help spread the word of our cool design to audiences who might not normally think of an assistive device for the disabled in this manner.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

DG : I learned a lot about composite design and manufacturing! On top of that, I learned a lot about patience and perseverance in seeing this project through some big company politics and the world shut down through Covid.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

DG : No, thank you for taking the time to read if you made it this far :)