Charlotte’s multi-tool gadget wins
Famous tool designer is impressed by creativity of Greenmeadows pupil
Greenmeadows primary school pupil Charlotte Field has designed a tool that has a tracking device, a knife and fork, a petfood dispenser, lip gloss — even a television.
The colour and creativity of the design caught the attention of competition creator and iconic multi-tool designer, Tim Leatherman, who is celebrating his invention’s 35th anniversary by travelling the world.
The nationwide school competition called “‘Design a Leatherman”, involved school aged children creating their own design, featuring all the gadgets and tools they need in their daily life.
Charlotte took out the junior competition with Leatherman selecting her as the winner himself.
She won $200 cash, a Leatherman leap multi-tool personally engraved personally and a signed copy of the book No 8 Recharged Stories of NZ Innovators
Fellow Greenmeadows pupil Tori Gibbs was a runner-up in the competition.
The way she laid out the ideas in the tools, the way she had everything folding in and out showed some real engineering as well as real creativity. Tim Leatherman
Leatherman was greeted by school principal Mark Johnson, while students and staff performed a full waiata and haka at his arrival.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this before, so it was amazing to see such a wonderful performance,” Leatherman said.
He presented Charlotte with her prizes as well as a $1000 cheque for the school and described her reaction as “wordless”.
“I asked her what she was going to spend her $200 on and she was very quiet. I think she was just very shy,” he laughed.
Leatherman said he picked her design because it was “semipractical”.
“The way she laid out the ideas in the tools, the way she had everything folding in and out showed some real engineering as well as real creativity.”
The multi-tool was created by Leatherman in 1975, when he found himself constantly needing to fix things, but never had the right tools.
He thought it would take him a month to design, it took him three years.
Thirty-five years after the tool’s creation, he’s sold 75 million around the world.
New Zealand is the eighth country he’s visited for his anniversary celebration. He will be visiting schools in Auckland today before flying down to Christchurch.