Bauhaus and Saphenus
Rainer Schultheis and his team established the company Saphenus Medical Technology in 2016 with a clear mission: to create a medical product that not only enables walking again but also reduces pain. Sylvia Brayley-Schultheis, the Managing Director at the time, saw in 2017 a video contribution to a discussion about the future possibilities of medical products, where the focus was on the best possible adaptation of ‚things‘ to the body – a bit of a cyborg discussion. One of the panellists was Prof Andreas Mühlenberend, a professor at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. This was the start of a long-lasting, fruitful relationship. Aesthetics and the aspiration to view a product that is intended to help people as an art object were on the agenda for the project with Saphenus. One of the pressing question was whether the shape, the colour, and the appearance could make a further contribution to developing senses that enhance well-being. Weeks and weeks of workshops. destructive and constructive in parallel came along with Andreas.
Today it is clear: The early involvement of an industrial designer in the product development process for medical devices is crucial. However, it can also be challenging. For the developers. Not enough to find a initial solution for a minimum viable product, the designer comes along with his ideas. A tingling constellation. In the case of Saphenus, this worked very well.
The sensory feedback system Suralis by Saphenus stands out with a bold, distinctive colour that sets it apart from the standard blue/grey/white tones of medical products. The eye-catching honeydew melon yellow matches the honeycomb corporate design from Saphenus. The soft, drop-shaped structures create a pleasant haptic feeling, first in the hand, and then as a sensory feedback system in a different haptic, adding a refreshing breathing sensation.
Prof. Mühlenberend is a renowned figure in the field of industrial design in medical technology, the Nestor in a way for prosthetics. He has developed pioneering works for leading companies such as Otto Bock. We are proud to have him as part of our team for so many years now. And it is no surprise that the renowned good design award of the Chicago Athenaeum, the Museum of Architecture and Design, was given to Saphenus, even before the minimum viable product had been approved. It was a welcome and significant recognition, further reinforcing our position as leaders in the field.
