...the circa calendar inventor

UK-based Pinay invents award-winning toy calendar

by Rose Eclarinal,

ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

12/09/2011

 

 

 

LONDON - When Melinda Holohan lost her job not so long ago, she became a stay-at-home mom looking after her two children.

It was an adjustment for a career-driven woman who was used to the rat race working in media advertising in New York before settling down in the UK with her husband. But now she can say that it was one of the best things that ever happened to her.

While juggling between duties of a mother to a young family, she was also able to pursue her passion for design and also started a business.

The Eureka moment came last year after dealing with a tough question from her then 3-year-old son.

In the process of conjuring up an answer to her son’s question, she invented a toy by accident. She calls it circa -- the circular calendar.

“He wanted to know when he could go swimming again. It was Thursday evening and he goes swimming on a Tuesday. I find it quite difficult to explain to him that the week does continue and it does start again. I lay there in my bed thinking there must be a way of teaching kids the circular nature of calendar. I couldn’t fall asleep and I decided to just get out of bed. I then designed the circular calendar that evening using Power Point,” said Holohan.

Holohan wanted to produce a quality toy that is tactile so she used wood.





Award-winning design

Almost two years after inventing and developing circa, an innovative toy calendar, it has reaped the following awards and recognition in the UK:

• Top Drawer September 2011: Best New Children's Product
• Rainbow Toy Awards 2011: Highly Commended - Wooden Toy Category
• British Female Inventors and Innovators Network (BFIIN) Awards: Winner - Inventors Award, Semi-Finals 2011.

Circa was also recently selected as one of the Top 25 gifts of the Ideal Home Show at Christmas held at Earl’s Court in London.

“I always had faith in my product but every time I get recognized and awarded its just the best thing that happens, an affirmation that what I’m doing is the right thing, that it will benefit children around the world in their education and in their learning,” explained Holohan.

Melinda was born in the Philippines and raised in Denmark by her Filipino parents. She studied in the US and settled in the UK 11 years ago.

She said the Filipino values inculcated by her parents, her Danish background and American education helped her in achieving her goal to design a toy with a global appeal.

“You can sit on the fence all your life and think I have great idea but I just decided to go forward. I had a bit of savings that I wanted to use for this product. I believe it has a global appeal,” she said.

Circa is now out in the UK market, and it is also on its way for distribution in the Philippines. The toy is for children 3 years and up.

For Melinda, introducing circa to Pinoys and to the rest of the world is a great finish to a humbling start as a concept borne out of mother’s desire to be able to teach her son the concept of a calendar.