By Mette Nielsen

Many a time will the bespoken members have come across the Trabasack brand on our site, and two weeks ago we recommended the product line of wheelchair bags for holiday makers.

This week we have talked to the man behind the clever combined table and bag solution for wheelchair users. Or more precisely: The family behind it.

Duncan, Clare and Joe Edward’s each play a part in the story of this social enterprise.

It started with a son

Duncan Edwards was working as a disability benefits advisor, when he first met his future wife Clare. The two of them fell in love, got married and Clare got pregnant.

Being a wheelchair user after an incident in her teenage years, Clare knew that having a child would be hard work, and so the couple moved closer to her parents in Quorn, Leicestershire, to get two extra sets of helping hands.

Then Joe Edwards was born, and the couple soon found out that their son had a learning disability and epilepsy.

Table to Trabasack

Clare Edwards used to be a sculptor, but after Joe was born, she turned her creative talents into product designing: She wanted to create a flexible table for herself and her son as wheelchair users. It was to be very flexible, and she got funding to carry out the plans.

But then another idea emerged, and Clare got deviated from her table work: She designed a devise to help her then 2-year-old son: A combined bag and table for his buggy.

“Clare got the idea for the Trabasack, when she created the prototype for Joe. It was very helpful and useful, and we got a lot of attention from other wheelchair users, so we thought – why not make it commercial?” says Duncan Edwards.

They contacted the people, who funded the on-pause table idea, who loved the Trabasack concept. And so the table turned into the Trabasack.

Joint effort

Today the couple run the Trabasack Company together. Clare is designing new products and improving the existing range.

Duncan takes care of all things practical, customer requests, and media, marketing and so forth.

“It is really a joint effort. And because we run the business from our home, it gives us the time to take care of Joe if he has a bad day,” tells Duncan Edwards, who now sells Trabasacks to people all over the world.

And as for Joe: He is still the muse.

The next step

Though Trabasack has now established itself as a solid company with a unique product, the couple behind it are not content. They want their product sold by retailers.

“It is very difficult to sell a product like ours to major retailers. Therefore we have started working together with other social entrepreneurs – together it should be easier,” says Duncan Edwards.

He also lets us know, that Clare is working on a series of products that have nothing to do with the Trabasack, but for now he cannot say more about the family’s new business adventure.

For more information on Trabasack's products click here.