Pillar Product Design / 2021 / December
Inventor brings salt and pepper product to market
December 14, 2021 In blog

Bringing a Product to Market – Pepper King

We interviewed Mike, a local business owner in the Seattle area, about his new product endeavor and his experience bringing a product to market. Mike is the owner of Grain of Salt LLC and the brains behind the Pepper King, the last salt and pepper grinder you’ll ever need to buy.   Pillar: Tell us a little bit about your product. A: Pepper King is the world’s greatest electric salt & pepper grinder. It is powerful, robust, simple, and reliable.   Pillar: How did you come up with your product idea? A: I love electric grinders, yet they all suck. I’ve purchased several and they break

Forterra uses innovative sustainable material cross laminated timber to construct wood innovation center in Darington, Washington
December 9, 2021 In blog

Sustainable Material Technology – Forterra and CLT

This week we want to spotlight Forterra, a local non-profit that uses innovative, sustainable material technologies and creates jobs in the Seattle area. Susan, Bob’s wife, has been a part of Forterra’s Wood Innovation Group for a few years now. In her role, she has worked on grant application and assisted in the funding of the Wood Innovation Center that is being constructed in Darrington, Washington. She has work closely with a spectrum of local groups and community members in the Pacific Northwest to bring this amazing program to reality. Forterra is working in conjunction with local Washington communities to build

Industrial designer holds production sample of the Homax Tex Pro texture system
December 8, 2021 In blog

Innovative Product Engineering – Homax Tex Pro

We are very excited to announce the launch of the Homax Tex Pro Texture System, an innovative wall texture sprayer that utilizes pre-mixed mud cartridges and an air compressor to tackle interior wall texture jobs. This new system is up to 70% faster and 60% lighter than traditional hopper guns and drastically simplifies set up and clean up for the user. This has been a long, complex product engineering challenge that has been tough and exciting and we can’t wait to see how people react to this innovative product idea. We started working with Homax to develop the Tex Pro texture