When we think of art, we think of pictures, or images of life. We can use this as a metaphor for creating a style of how we want to live as we age. For me style is not about a type of furniture, it’s design, or a colour in the material. It is simply a way of life that has practical purpose, through comfort and safety. This type of art describes the fundamental source of how we perceive comfort and how it is woven into our daily activity, through the products we choose to use that meet our needs for comfort and safety.
As a trained Occupational Therapist, I am developing my own style of comfort through designing ergonomic products for safe daily living. It is my belief that the products out on the market today have not been designed to suit our basic needs for comfort. I am a very fit and energetic woman in my fifties that has very severe osteoarthritis in both my basal thumb joints. The pain is so bad that it hurts to drink my coffee in the morning. Every mug I use simply hurts me to drink out from. I have therefore designed my own mug and as a result designed a whole new formula for holding functional objects by using a “relaxed hold”. Not only is this comfortable, but it is a safe and a secure method of holding items without tension in the muscles that are used so repetitiously each day in just living.
What is comfort? Comfort is a feeling of positive well being. We are comfortable because nothing feels different. We feel fine, nothing hurts and nothing has upset us.
So how can I make a business out of nothing? If someone has a natural affinity to paint or draw, they will become an artist and paint beautiful paintings that other people will take pleasure in seeing in looking at. As an Occupational Therapist with pain in my hands, I have natural resolution to overcome the problem of functional holding terms safely in daily living that will help other people with similar problems to me. I have knowledge and understanding about correct anatomical positions for skeletal joints in relation to the mechanical holding positions for skeletal joints in comfort of daily living.
As a fit an active woman, I am not hiding in a corner and watching life go by, without being involved in my usual active manner. I have lifted myself above the severe pain and distress to show other people, how it can be overcome with a focus on what is important in your life.
Gail is a retired Occupational Therapist severe with osteoarthritis both her hands.
She has a business in redesigning daily living products in to ergonomic daily living products that Protect your joints, Preserve your Energy and Promote your Safety when using the products.