Edinburgh inventor behind StemZ toy marks milestone with charity donations

The inventor behind the popular 3D StemZ fidgible construction toy is celebrating reaching £270,000 of sales on its fifth anniversary with donations of the item to charity.

Euan Lind had been working as a teacher, but decided to harness his fascination with geometry and retrain as a 3D designer, graduating with a postgraduate in interdisciplinary design from Napier University.

Initial projects included designing a light for Habitat and being involved in the design and renovation of Edinburgh’s Timberyard restaurant before launching the first iteration of the StemZ construction toy at the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 2016.

StemZ is now sold in outlets including John Lewis, Fenwick and Museums of Scotland, and can be found in classrooms across the country.

Mr Lind hails StemZ marking its fifth anniversary by donating some of the toys to RNIB and The Donaldson Trust. Picture: contributed.

It is designed to promote fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and dexterity, as well as creative problem-solving skills and helping children explore and understand 3D geometry.

Aimed at the five to 12 age group, the toy’s flexible pieces can be bent and twisted to make everything from bouncing balls to jumping creatures and crowns to motion wheels and even costumes.

Following feedback on the popularity of the 3D toy, including from parents of children with vision or hearing impairments or autism, StemZ is marking its fifth anniversary by donating toys to RNIB and The Donaldson Trust, which is focused on neurodiversity.

Mr Lind, who is currently a part-time lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art teaching product design students about innovative ways to use new digital manufacturing such as 3D printing, said he knew from a “very early” age that he wanted to be an inventor.

“After developing many prototypes at the early stages it was great to be able to finally invent a toy that would really encourage hands-on creative and imaginative play for kids and give them an understanding of 3D geometry.

“It’s a great milestone for us as we celebrate our fifth anniversary and I’m delighted that we are able to mark it with the donation of StemZ toys to two fantastic charities.”

He will be sharing the story of his entrepreneurial journey at Love Your Business networking club, founded in 2018 by Michelle Brown from the eponymous PR agency. The event, which is currently running online, takes place on Thursday October 28 from 11am till noon.

Over the years, the club has welcomed a host of inspiring speakers including Chris van der Kuyl, co-founder of 4JStudios, the developer behind Minecraft Console Editions; rugby legend Scott Hastings; and Alice Thompson, co-founder of Social Bite.

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