Product designers, like manufacturers, face the daily challenge of creating original, quality products that fit market needs. Based in Dublin, the Klickity Co. has been meeting this challenge as both a product design firm and a manufacturer since 2010. Founded by industrial designer Kate Cronin, the company specializes in sustainable and affordable contemporary home accessories and LED-based gifts.
One of Klickity’s most popular products is its KLIP modular notice board, which was introduced in 2014. The board consists of hexagonal polypropylene (fully recyclable) discs that are placed next to each other to form rows and columns, or overlapped to form clusters.
Sold in packs of four, each disc measures 6.1 by 7.1 inches, and features top-side slots and an eye-catching color pattern (purple-white, grey-white, yellow-white, yellow-gray, or blue-navy). Paint-friendly sticky pads on the back of each disc allows it to be easily attached to a wall. Letters, notes and photos are then clipped into disc slots as desired.
Development of the KLIP board did pose one new challenge to Cronin. During prototyping, she discovered that the self-adhesive dots used successfully in Klickity’s other non-shear applications did not keep the pads adhered to the discs when shear load was applied. This occurred because the discs’ polypropylene surface was repelling rather than attracting the self-adhesive dots.
To resolve this problem, Cronin enlisted the help of Action Adhesives, the local distributor for adhesive-supplier Scigrip. Action Adhesives recommended the dots be replaced with a two-part methyl methacrylate adhesive called PPX5.
This adhesive is formulated to provide a resilient bond to polypropylene and other low-energy surfaces without any pretreatment. In addition, its low exothermic (heat-releasing) properties prevent polypropylene from deforming during adhesive curing.
To verify PPX5’s effectiveness, the distributor conducted a series of successful test bonds with polypropylene samples. Cronin also likes that the adhesive is low odor, has an off-white color when cured, resists most chemicals and is easily applied from 50-milliliter dual cartridges.
Klickity’s other products include a retro candle holder, birch-ply blocks that hold six eggs or pyramid-stacked fruit, and a fanfare wall clock with six or 12 leaves that can be fanned out or stacked. The company’s innovative products earned it the 2012 Futuremakers Design Award by the Crafts Council of Ireland.
“We encourage customers to get interactive with the products they buy, [and] to personalize their collections to represent their individual style,” says Cronin.
For more information on methyl methacrylate adhesives, call 877-477-4583 or visit www.scigrip.com.
