Kids these days…

Inspired by the need to create a cup for her grandfather who had difficulty holding onto drinking vessels due to his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms, 11-year-old Lily Born of Chicago created a unique cup design that has already surpassed its goal on Kickstarter in less than a week.

The three-legged Kangaroo Cup was designed not through fancy sketches or in a complicated CAD program, but rather with simple moldable prototyping plastic…the perfect medium these days for a young maker with a design vision.

The first iteration came in the form of a stackable ceramic cup that arrived on Kickstarter in October of 2012 and was successfully funded in less than a month. Post-campaign, Lily and family took a trip to JingDeZhen, China—the world’s capital of fine porcelain—where she had her first experience of watching her product design go from prototype to a mass-manufactured good.

After a couple of years of using the ceramic version, Lily was convinced that there needed to be an unbreakable version as well for both kids and those in need of a hardier cup design.

Thus, the Unbreakable Kangaroo Cup was born:

The Unbreakable Kangaroo Cup

Stable on uneven surfaces
Tip-resistant three-legged design
Elevated base means no need for a coaster
Contoured handles provide a comfortable one- or two-handed grip
Stackable design saves space on the shelf
Break-resistant, stain-resistant & BPA-free plastic
Microwave & dishwasher safe
9-ounce

One of the bigger challenges for Lily and her design team moving from a ceramic cup to a plastic cup was moving from the more simple slip cast (ceramic) mold to an expensive injection mold.

With over $35,000 raised of their original $25,000 goal so far (not to mention nearly a month left in the campaign), it looks as though Lily is on her way towards another crowdfunded success.