Stone me! Six GCSE students invent a safe way to cut an avocado
A GROUP of British GCSE students have won an award for an invention that could mean the end to an injury plaguing avocado lovers worldwide.
They have created an avocado slicing gadget which they believe will prevent the growing number of “avocado hand” injuries.
Alongside the rising popularity of avocados has come a rise in the number of people being treated in hospital after cutting themselves preparing the fruit, including actress Meryl Streep.
The invention, the Avogo, is the brainchild of Brighton College pupils Pietro Pignatti, Morano Campori, Seth Rickard, Felix Winstanley, Shiven Patel, all 14, and Matias Paz Linares, 13, who all came up with the idea after Shiven cut his hand while preparing an avocado for breakfast.
Encouraged by Sarah Awbery, their design and technology teacher, they worked on a prototype cast from pewter and realised they had hit on a winning idea.
The pupils have already sold some of the gadgets which they believe will save time, energy and cut the risk of injury.
Shiven said: “I thought it might be a winner when my mum said how much she loved it. I think it’s quite common for people to injure themselves while cutting an avocado because I read that hospitals have reported a rise in related injuries in recent years.
“Pietro, Seth, Felix, Matias and I talked about that and it just seemed like the perfect product to try and make.” The Avogo has caught the eye of London’s Design Museum, which awarded
it first place in the international and independent schools category in the Design Ventura challenge competition.
Judges said the product ticked all the boxes and was relevant to today’s customers, adding that a product like this was “extremely marketable”.
The team of youngsters is now setting up a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to manufacture 250 Avogos, to sell at £10 each. The boys plan to donate the profits to charity. Ms Awbery said: “We are incredibly proud of the boys for coming up with this. They really thought hard about the brief and used their own everyday experiences as inspiration for creating a new product – which has been a real hit already at the school.
“Everybody knows peeling and destoning an avocado can be a tricky business and we love that the boys decided to tackle an everyday issue with such design style.”
Meryl Streep cut herself while preparing an avocado in 2012. She was reportedly given stitches by a doctor in Connecticut, where she lives, but later had to undergo surgery in New York.
Jamie Oliver, the chef, has warned of the perils of incorrectly preparing avocados, advising people to use a board and not hold it in the hand while cutting. Simon Eccles, a leading plastic surgeon, said last year he had treated about four patients every week at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for avocado wounds. Staff there dubbed the injury “avocado hand”.
The British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic surgeons has called for safety labels to be put on avocados following the rise in “avocado hand” injuries.