2019 Designer Awards

www.lux-review.com Page 31 LUX 2019 Designer Awards In this year’s contest submissions were received from all over the United States exhibiting imaginative and pragmatic inventions from inventors and entrepreneurs as young as 8 years old. Five young finalists had the pleasure of seeing their ideas transform into prototypes by MAKO Design in 2017. This year the firm collaborated with Avenger’s star Cobie Smulders, who beamed in a recent interview with NBC New York, saying MAKO is “an amazing company” for bringing the inventions to life. A technology start-up to its core, to ensure that they are always providing clients with the most advanced service possible MAKO has a completely Cloud-based working office. Using systems like Google Suite to keep important information in one place, the company is able to enjoy synergetic connectivity within every team, and as such every client's projects managed accordingly. This collaborative approach ensures a supportive internal culture, allowing staff to share their knowledge and expertise and offer clients the very highest possible standards of service and support at all times. Operating in the fast-paced design market and supporting inventors, MAKO works hard to remain ahead of emerging market trends. Currently, there are a large number of products that are focused on health and wellness, as this is projected to be the next trillion-dollar industry. The concept of wellness, a state of being healthy in body and mind is a lifestyle that has permeated itself into the minds of many. This is a trend in which product development firms can thrive, as many new devices will come out of this focus. Additionally, AR/VR have been huge trends in the technology world as of late, but there’s always going to be hardware needed for devices like these. Inventors and start-up companies view AR/VR as one of the hottest innovations in tech, with a vast area to cover in terms of new product development. There will be no shortage of new tech which can implement these features. MAKO is excited to be a firm which has the outlets to produce new products for this booming industry and remains committed to driving these products to even greater success. Looking to the future, MAKO will continue to drive even greater success for its clients and inventors, as its newly opened Miami, Florida office prepares to support even more creatives and visionaries around the world. Company: MAKO Design + Invent Name: Kelsey Priestap Address: 3205 Liberty Street, Austin, TX 78705, USA Telephone Number: 14168818810 Web Address: www.makodesign.com Thanks to its 25-person team spread across offices around the world, MAKO has a complete in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist its start-up inventor clients the firm is also able to support them with patenting, strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Collaborating with clients through every stage of the development process to get their idea designed, engineered, prototyped and manufactured for the mass market, the firm is able to ensure that they enjoy a truly exceptional experience every time they work with MAKO. Alongside its work with clients, the firm also works to share its industry knowledge and expertise to help drive the next generation of inventors and innovators. Teaming up with Frito-Lay and ABC’s Shark Tank star Robert Herjevac, MAKO brings young inventors and entrepreneurs dreams to life with the Dreamvention competition. Young contestants enter their creative ideas to solve everyday problems for a chance to win the grand prize of $250, 000 and bring their inventions to life. North America’s leading product design firm MAKO Design + Invent offers a full- service consumer product development service supporting small product businesses and early-stage invention start- ups. As part of our overview of a selection of the innovative winners of this year’s Designer Awards we profile the firm to gain an insight into the secrets behind its incredible success. MAKO Design + Invent Best Consumer Product Development Services Company - North America & LUX Excellence Award in Product Prototyping 2019 Kevin Mako is the Founder and President of MAKO Design + Invent, a 25-person invention de- velopment firm with offices in To- ronto, Austin, and Florida. Kevin Mako also spends a great deal of time progressing the product development industry as a whole through guest speaking engage- ments, building robust strategic partnerships, and advancing the development of entrepreneurship through initiatives such as The Industrial Design Guild, Inventors Meetups, and the MAKO Student Innovation Awards at Ryerson, which grants inventors $10,500 every year for their innovative start-ups. Kevin Mako has spo- ken at numerous events across the globe on entrepreneurship, startups, and product innovation. Most recently, Kevin Mako was a keynote speaker at the Dublin Tech Summit in Ireland, where he spoke alongside engineers from NASA, and directors from the USA’s White House.