Traditional nose prosthetics are designed to be as unnoticeable as possible, but designer Zach Challies has developed an alternative that stands out.
"I think it could be quite dramatically life-changing, especially for recent patients who are trying to come to terms with how they look now," he says.
His 3D-printed nose is not as realistic as hand-crafted traditional ones, but it is a lot cheaper and quicker to make, and it can take more knocks, appealing to those who want to stay active.
"It's about $100 to produce as opposed to $1000 for a traditional one," he says. "If it is broken or damaged, the wearer could have a few more printed that he can just pop on."
Mr Challies is the New Zealand winner of the $4000 James Dyson Award. He will now compete, with four other Kiwis, for the international prize of almost $60,000.
They include Manoocher Zarif and his panels to convert traffic vibrations into electricity.
International entries include a solar-powered slow cooker and a multi-vessel water boiler.
New Zealand judge David Lovegrove believes Mr Challies' product could take out the top prize.
"He is solving real problems that are actually being driven by the user and surgeons," he says.
3D-printed prosthetics is an emerging market, and Mr Challies says taking out the top prize could give him a real chance to make inroads in the industry.
3 News
source: newshub archive
