3D People and Zeal Lifestyle Revolutionize Mobility with Cutting-Edge 3D Printing
Zeal Lifestyle is a sustainable lifestyle company, based in Surrey, UK; with a specific focus on stylish and highly functional and adaptable mobility aids for supported living.
The Zeal journey began when its two founders — Georgia Williams and Joshua King — independently looked into purchasing a walker for family members. Before that, though, both Georgia and Josh studied industrial design at Brunel University in London. Georgia going on to work for renowned fashion brand Dior for a number of years, while Josh garnered experience working as an industrial designer for Seymour Powell and Factory Design.
During the Covid pandemic lockdowns, Georgia’s Great Aunt, at 86 years old, needed a walker to use both indoors and outdoors to support her mobility. Despite Georgia searching for hours and hours, she could not find a stylish walker that suited her Great aunt’s stylish tastes and personality. Resistance to using mobility aids is a common obstacle for family members both in terms of denial that it is needed, but also the resentment of having to purchase a device that often looks and feels limited and unappealing.
This is what inspired Zeal Lifestyle, Georgia and Josh decided to take this matter into their own hands and design a walker putting the end user first. At the end of last year, Zeal opened for pre-orders having earned global recognition and awards for its user-centred design, including the Unlocking Potential Award by Innovate UK. The full and official launch, which will include delivery of pre-orders and opening up for direct retail options to purchase, is scheduled for Summer 2025.
The Zeal walker is coming to market following four years of collaboration with users and a comprehensive product development process, that is completely in line with what would be expected for a Class 1 medical device that has to adhere to specific ISO standards.
Zeal’s mission is to remove the stigma of walkers and mobility aids, and provide a product that users are proud to be seen with. The emotions involved in accepting the need for and purchasing a mobility aid should not be underestimated. A walker that offers elegant style and comfort, as well as being lightweight and easy to handle goes a long way towards overcoming any emotional resistance. This is the ethos behind Zeal and it shows.
However, bringing that ethos into the real world is neither quick nor easy. The product development process, by necessity for a class 1 medical device, is exacting and challenging.
Safety and efficiency of the device are vital, while incorporating the essence of Zeal’s style and comfort. In addition, sustainability has also been a very important element of Zeal’s development and as a result of that commitment, the Zeal walker has been fully designed for disassembly.
For the prototyping of Zeal’s plastic parts, the Zeal team worked with 3D People. The development of the Zeal mobility aid was complex and required numerous series of functional prototypes during the iterative process that had to meet demanding requirements. The first fully functional Zeal walker prototype was made with 3D printed parts for testing size and human interactions. Utilising the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and MultiJet Fusion (MJF) processes offered by 3D People, along with their finishing options ensured Zeal received the high-quality parts they required reliably and fast. According to Josh: “Over the past year, we’ve ordered around 500 parts in SLS and MJF for various prototypes and design iterations. The MJF process is great for parts that need to be smooth and after post-processing, it’s hard to tell them apart from injection-moulded parts. SLS works better for visual parts since the off-white finish is more aesthetically pleasing than MJF’s dark grey. We switch between the two different processes depending on the stage of design. Costs are also important, of course, and these can also vary based on part size and process used, so that’s something we factor in too, but it’s an easy thing.”
It’s hard to overstate how important quality is for functional prototypes that have to go through stringent testing. Josh continued: “The quality of the parts from 3D People has been consistently excellent. Everything we’ve received has been accurate, and there’s been very little need for extra finishing before testing. Any issues we have had were sorted quickly by the team, which has made the whole process much easier.”
When finishing of parts was required, 3D People offer multiple options including dedicated vapour smoothing, vibro-polishing and dyeing. The company also stands out for its creative approach to finishing and working with clients to get the finish they want. For the Zeal, Josh found the vapour smoothing option invaluable for a number of parts and for different reasons. He said: “Vapour smoothing gives the parts a polished look and makes them feel nicer. It also saves us from having to do extra finishing work later, which has been a big time-saver. Vapour smoothing can also give a more waterproof finish which is easy to wipe clean which was really useful for us because unfinished parts get dirty really quickly and easily, which is not ideal when undertaking multiple user tests.”
Pre-orders for the Zeal walker have exceeded expectations, according to Georgia and the company is working hard to fulfil them all ahead of the summer launch.
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