Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jane ní Dhulchaointigh
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| Alma mater | Royal College of Art 2004 |
| Known for | Sugru |
Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh (say it like "nee dool-KWEN-teekh") is a super creative Irish artist, designer, and inventor. She's also a successful business person! She's famous for inventing Sugru, a special kind of mouldable glue. In 2018, she won the European Inventor Award for her amazing invention. Time magazine even called Sugru one of the world's best inventions!
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Jane's Early Life and Education
Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh was born in Kilkenny, a town in Ireland. She grew up on a farm, and she was always fixing things that broke. This love for repairing things helped her later in life.
She first studied sculpture, which is about creating art from different materials. When she was 23, she moved to London. There, she went to the Royal College of Art to study product design.
How the Idea for Sugru Started
While at college, Jane had a brilliant idea for Sugru. She wanted to create a mouldable material that could fix broken items easily. She experimented by mixing bathroom sealant with wood dust. This mixture turned into a bouncy ball that looked like wood! She finished her studies and graduated in 2004.
Jane's Amazing Career
After college, Jane worked hard to make her idea a reality.
Creating Sugru and Starting a Company
In 2005, Jane teamed up with James Carrigan and Roger Ashby. Together, they started a company called FormFormForm. Their goal was to develop and sell Sugru. Jane spent about 8,000 hours in the lab. She worked with scientists who specialized in silicone to perfect the product.
She showed an early version of Sugru at a festival called Electric Picnic. She also won a grant of £35,000 from Nesta, which helped her research.
Overcoming Challenges and Launching Sugru
In 2008, the company ran out of money. But Jane didn't give up! They used social media and crowdfunding to raise money. Crowdfunding is when many people donate small amounts to help a project. This money helped them buy machines, create packaging, and design a website.
They also secured £250,000 from a company called Lacomp PLC in 2006. Finally, Sugru was ready to launch in December 2009. It was a huge success, selling out in just six hours! Websites like Boing Boing and Wired featured Sugru. Jane named Sugru after the Irish word súgradh, which means "play."
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Sugru's Global Success
Today, Sugru is sold in over 6,000 shops all around the world. In 2010, Time magazine called it one of the world's best inventions. Jane gave a Ted Talk at TEDxDublin in 2012, sharing her story.
In 2013, the London Design Festival named Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh the "Design Entrepreneur" of the year. She launched Sugru in B&Q shops across the UK and Ireland. She even used a YouTube video to tell customers about her product.
By 2013, Sugru had been used on all seven continents, even in Antarctica! Jane was chosen by EY as one of their top entrepreneurs. She gave a special speech at 99U at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Her speech, called The Magic Is in The Process, talked about the six years it took to create Sugru.
Sugru also helped create a special foil handle for fencers. This was done with a company called Leon Paul. In 2014, The Guardian newspaper called Sugru a "wonder material." By 2016, Jane's company, FormFormForm, was making about £3.6 million a year.
Later Achievements and New Ventures
In 2017, Jane spoke at InspireFest. She shared that Sugru had been used to fix more than ten million items! They also launched a new "Family-Safe" formula. This version allows children to safely use Sugru for their own creative projects.
In 2018, Jane won the European Inventor Award for Small and Medium Enterprises. She was the first Irish person ever to win this award! Later that year, her company was sold to Tesa for £7.6 million.
Jane is also part of the Awesome Foundation. This group donates £1,000 every month to a different new idea. Since 2023, she has been a director on the board of Common Knowledge. This is an Irish non-profit organization that helps build homes.
