When we were children, we all thought that growing up we would be able to make the world fairer. To change it and to be able to help our fellow human beings by putting our little stone. Phaedrus Panagopoulos manages it every day. It may not have been his childhood dream, he explains, but his life in recent years has been aimed at improving the lives of people with disabilities making handmade wheelchairs for them.
He is the only Greek craftsman who with his main "assistant" his hands, wheels, aluminum pieces, handles, screwdrivers, screws etc. manufactures wheelchairs adapted to the needs and the taste of each customer.
"I entered the field of restoration products completely by accident in 2008 when I was hired by a company from Thessaloniki which at that time was opening its market in Athens. About 1,5 years later I started my own company with imports of wheelchairs, part of which were wheelchairs. About wheelchairs, the idea started in 2012. I had the honor and fortune to work with the largest wheelchair factories in the world and I really am and will always be grateful for that. Despite the quality of the wheelchairs I introduced, I saw "improvements" that could be made to further serve wheelchair users. Thus began the idea of creating a construction process in which there would be no restrictions on both design and construction. In 2017 and after many tests, the dream came true ", he explains speaking to newsbeast.gr.
- How is a handmade wheelchair different from the rest on the market? Is its cost higher?
It is an opportunity to clarify the term since we created it and now lately it sounds a lot, even by some who do not know. First of all, let's agree that all wheelchairs are made by some human hands, so everything can be considered handmade, but this is not the case. The way we make a wheelchair and the personalization we do is unique. There are few companies in the world that give the wheelchair user 100% the opportunity to come up with an idea and make it a reality whether it is a function or even a skeleton design. So while most manufacturers make wheelchairs by changing only the dimensions of a predefined frame design, we come and say "we design it together from the beginning and whatever you request will be designed and built from scratch, especially for you ”. We do not have standard molds that produce the same wheelchairs.
Each time, for each wheelchair separately, the mold is made on which a one is started and built. wheelchair. As unique as each person. In essence, the term "handmade" gives us the opportunity to provide a wheelchair 100% as the user wants. Not 99% but 100%. Until we appeared, everyone was talking about custom wheelchairs, ie wheelchairs adapted to the body and needs of the user. These were the carts that we traded before we started construction.
We tried to develop the personalization process and thus enable the user to intervene 100% actively in the design part. So this is a handmade wheelchair, a wheelchair that is made each time from the beginning and based on each one separately in contrast to the custom (adaptable) whose parts of the wheelchair are already made and are assembled according to its body user and its capabilities. We do not mean a handmade wheelchair that provides standard and predetermined possibilities either design or functionality.
Last year we made an additional change in the term and replaced the "handmade" from the English word TailorMade, ie "sewn to our measures" thus wanting to give a clearer picture of the process. We hope that this term will not be violated in the future!
Regarding the cost, we have it at the same levels as the cost of custom (ie pre-defined design and functional) wheelchairs. This way the user can experience a 100% TailorMade wheelchair at prices like the prefabricated ones and we consider this very important, especially for Greek citizens.
- How is such a special "tool" made by hand?
The process takes weeks λοιπόν So we start with the first meeting during which we analyze the user's living data such as home environment, workplace, habits, mode of transport, etc. The damage of each user plays a very big role and there we ask the help of the doctor and therapist to have the medical picture, especially when the lesion is relatively recent.
For us, the right somatometry consists of 3 aspects: The medical, the construction and the user. It is important in the end for the wheelchair user to feel good using our wheelchair. All of this data comes into a huge equation and that's where the design of the wheelchair and accessories in a computer design program begins, each time from the beginning. Once everything is designed then the construction of the components and the overall construction of the wheelchair begins. When the wheelchair reaches an intermediate point then we carry out the process of Fitting, a global innovation of our company of 525 in which the user experiences in practice what is designed for him.
Until now, users who bought a wheelchair from foreign factories tried samples or saw drawings on a computer, but the result is not always certain, we have learned of serious mistakes that were otherwise designed and otherwise constructed. With Fitting, however, we eliminate, in practice and not in theory, the possibility of error. So if changes need to be made then they are done and we do Fitting again to be sure of the result. So after the wheelchair is tested and it is exactly as we want it then it goes to the final stage of construction and at the end to its delivery. So the working hours are too many and it depends on the Fittings until we make the perfect final result.
- Is Greece a country with infrastructure for people with mobility problems? What needs to change and how can it be done?
Greece is inhospitable and dangerous I would say. We must change first, because we are Greece, not others. People with disabilities experience social exclusion and this can be seen in practice with the infrastructure but also with our attitude towards them. Many people think that playing it "sensitive" exhausts their responsibility towards a disabled person, but this is not only not enough but it is also offensive. Being a responsible citizen towards a fellow citizen does not make you sensitive.
Unfortunately, the world is made up of "normal for normal" and this is what needs to change. A disabled person experiences the limitation due to lack of infrastructure so the limitation stems from the lack of infrastructure and not from the bodily injury itself. Slowly and with proper information I dream of a Greece which will be "from all for all" without discrimination at any level.
- Is there a story from the construction of a wheelchair that you will never forget?
We were asked to create a wheelchair for a 2,5 year old child. So we designed it with a seat width of just 18 cm. This is the smallest autonomous wheelchair ever made! For the first time in the world, the study and testing of a wheelchair was implemented, which a child can follow in his development, ie he does not need to change a wheelchair every three years and thus does not need to spend a significant amount of time from time to time. the family. He will be able to move with the same wheelchair when he is an adult. So as soon as the little one received it, he started walking straight. He now had the ability to move independently in space!
In the following days I received a video of the child who was in the kindergarten and was moving independently with the other children walking in the yard. To understand the importance of this style, suffice it to say that in two years the wheelchair has already changed twice due to the development of the child, which practically means that parents would have to spend the same amount again in one to two years to their son is moving properly. We managed to reduce the family expenses too much, at least for this species.
- Your goals for the future?
To continue to create top quality wheelchairs and to continue to innovate globally as is happening now, a fact which has aroused the interest of international media and we are proud of it both as a company and as Greeks.
