First Designed-in-India Innovative ‘Menstrual Cup’ to be launched on Women’s Day
Ranchi, 5 March 2021 (HS)Care Form Labs Private Limited, a design-led social innovation start-up has redesigned ‘Menstrual Cups’ to make it easy-to-use and easy-to-switch, by its innovative user-centered design. This also happens to be the first novel menstrual cup to be designed-in-India. The product is called ‘Onpery Menstrual Cup’ and will be launched on March 8 which is ‘International Women’s Day’, along with their sustainable menstrual hygiene brand called ‘Onpery’, by dignitaries from ‘AIM (Atal Innovation Mission), NITI Aayog, New Delhi’ and fraternity of ‘MIT ADT University, Pune’ on a virtual event organized by ‘AIC-MIT Incubator Center, Pune’.
Notably, Care Form Labs Private Limited is co-founded by 23-year-old Pramod Priya Ranjan, from Ranchi, Jharkhand and Nachiket Kiran Thakur, from Pune. Ranjan pursued his bachelor’s in product design from ‘MIT Institute of Design, Pune’ and is currently pursuing his master’s in industrial and strategic design from ‘IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Delhi’. Thakur is currently Dy. Director of ‘MIT Institute of Design, Pune’ and an alumnus of ‘IDC (Industrial Design Centre), IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Bombay’.
The co-innovators of the ‘Onpery Menstrual Cup’ are Pramod Priya Ranjan as lead, Nachiket Thalur along with Professor Dhimant Panchal, Director, MIT Institute of Design, Pune as mentors, and Shreya Yengul and Alomi K Parikh as fellow designers, all from an Industrial Design background.
The project has been guided by Mohit Dubey, CEO, AIC – MIT ADT Incubator Forum, Pune on business strategy, and by Renu Vyas, Head of Institute, MIT School of Bioengineering Sciences and Research, Pune on the medical front. Menstrual Cup is an eco-friendly, economical, and hygienic alternative to typical sanitary napkins and tampons, but a lot of the users find it difficult-to-use and switch-to. This design team’s innovation lies in making it user-centered by designing it easy to insert and remove from the vagina, spill-resistant, ergonomic for people with a low cervix, assured no-leak measures, and intuitive. One cup can be reused for up to five years, hence replaces about 750 sanitary napkins, and is made of medical-grade silicone. It collects the blood instead of absorbing it; is rash-free, odor-free, work-friendly, sports-friendly, and will come in three different sizes for different groups of menstruating people. The Cup collects the blood for up to 10 hours per insertion. The novel design has been filed for Indian Patent, Indian Design Registrations, PCT (Patent Corporation Treaty) Application and soon the same will be filed for the IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights) in other countries. The company is incorporated in at Ranchi, Jharkhand, the hometown of Ranjan, and incubated at ‘AIC (Atal Innovation Centre) – MIT ADT Incubator Forum, Pune’, an incubation centre which is supported by ‘AIM (Atal Innovation Mission), NITI Aayog, New Delhi’ where the design was developed.
The company is a part of ‘GAP (Global Action on Poverty)’ an initiative of ‘HHH (Head Held High), Bengaluru’ in support of ‘Tata Trusts’. As a part of GAP, ‘Project Asha’ of ‘LBS (London Business School), London’ has collaborated with them to develop Business Strategies. The company is also supported by ‘UNDP (United Nations Development Program) Accelerator Lab India, New Delhi’ for Pilot Programme. The ‘Onpery Menstrual Cup’ has been awarded funds of up to 6 million INR so far, through a couple of grants and contests.
