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NEW WRINKLE: The Oliso iron,
at rest on half-inch stilts, doesn’t slip
off when Alipour jostles the ironing board.
Michael Winokur Photography |
When it comes to
ironing, there’s been little to get hot
and bothered about since the invention of the household
steam iron more than 50 years ago. So perhaps Ehsan
Alipour should have anticipated that developing an iron
with a revolutionary design might cause a bit of commotion.
Take the stir that took place at a recent quilting
convention. “I was doing a demonstration and [the
crowd] was actually folding the order forms into paper
airplanes and throwing them at me. They were screaming
things like, ‘This is better than a Ferrari!’
” says Alipour, MS ’02. “It was scary.”
Alipour, 40, is president and CEO of Oliso Inc. and
the inventor of the Oliso steam iron, the first to lift
and lower itself automatically. When not in use, the
iron rests, soleplate parallel to the ironing board,
on two heat-resistant stilts. When the handle is grasped,
sensors make the stilts retreat into the soleplate,
letting the iron descend and start its glide along the
fabric. The technology eliminates the need to constantly
lift the iron and rock it back to rest on an unstable
end.
When the user’s hand isn’t touching the
iron, its soleplate is about a half inch off the fabric,
preventing scorching. (An automatic shutoff system further
precludes burning.) The lifters also keep the iron from
slipping off a jostled ironing board; at a tilt of up
to 25 degrees, the prone iron will stay put.
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TOUCH AND GO: As soon as a user grips the handle the soleplate descends to the fabric.
Courtesy Oliso |
Oliso claims that its hovercraft of an iron can reduce
pressing time by up to 30 percent. And because the hot
surface stays face down there is no danger of the cat
(or the kids) brushing up against it.
The product has garnered rave reviews from people who
do lots of ironing, especially quilters and sewers.
It also has celebrity status among the blind and individuals
suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. People whose
occupations require uniforms find the appliance particularly
appealing.
“I have to iron a few times a week, so it definitely
saves me a lot of time,” says Herbert Goodlowe,
a police officer in Chicago, Ill. “And I was tired
of ruining my clothes when I would leave an iron on
for too long and burn through the fabric. You can’t
do that with this one.”
Alipour was inspired to build a better steam iron as
a graduate student in the product design program. After
reading an article in a trade magazine about the lack
of innovation in the iron industry, he spent months
watching people iron and then interviewing them about
their experiences. It soon became clear that the most
glaring issues were the irritating need to lift the
iron and the constant danger of it falling off the ironing
surface.
Drawing on his electrical engineering background—Alipour
had formed his own electrical lighting and design company
a few years after emigrating from Iran in 1983—he
developed an iron prototype that included the lifters
and the hand sensor. He started a design consultancy
after graduating from Stanford and then founded San
Francisco-based Oliso in December 2004.
In January 2006, the Oliso steam iron won the prestigious
Best in Category designation at the annual Housewares
Design Awards, beating 300 other new products. It has
been featured in Time and on Good Morning
America, and makes regular appearances on the Home
Shopping Network. With a list price of $119.99, it can
be purchased online or at Bloomingdale’s, Fry’s
Electronics and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Oliso has plans to launch an “innovative”
consumer household product for the kitchen soon. As
for Alipour, he’s still basking in the glow of
his iron. Crazed quilters notwithstanding, he says,
“This is every product designer’s dream.”
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