Engineer and musician John Harrison has a geographically scattered family. He says it’s not always easy to stay in touch, and sometimes emails and messages are misunderstood.
“I wanted to make something for my family that said, ‘I’m thinking of you,’” he says. “I wanted to do it in a way that was separate from the phone or computer. Those are part of our hectic daily lives, not what we go to when we want to relax.”
Harrison’s solution is a device he calls Filimin. He’s leading a team of Wichitans who are working to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter to make it a reality.
Filimin is a light that connects with other lights on a network via wi-fi. When one person touches the light, it changes the colors of all lights on the network. The touch could say “Hello,” “I love you,” “Wishing you well” or “I made it home safely.” Or, Harrison says, a collection of Wichita State Shocker fans could set up a network and change the lights’ colors in celebration of a big basket.
It’s a higher-tech version, Harrison says, of the way his brother used to stay connected with his wife. When the couple were geographically separated, they’d both light a candle at a designated time of day and think of each other.
Harrison, a founder of Wichita makerspace MakeICT, says he originally made the Filimin prototype for personal use. He brought it to a MakeICT-related event in January and got feedback that suggested the concept would be marketable.
Since then, Harrison has assembled a team of designers, marketing experts and manufacturing experts including Barry Morgan, Kenton Hansen, Ian Blume, Lisa Rundstrom, Gary Israel and Chris Parks. Mark Torline of Wichita State’s Center for Entrepreneurship provided advice on the project.
The group figures it needs to manufacture at least 1,000 lamps at a cost of about $50 each to make the project worthwhile, which led to the $50,000 Kickstarter goal. If the Kickstarter raises more money, the group will add functionality or develop additional designs.
Harrison and Israel, design director for Vornado Air, are still working out details of their manufacturing plan, but Harrison says he intends to contract with a local nonprofit for assembly. So far, he has had conversations with KETCH and the Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry about the project.
If the Filimin Kickstarter raises at least $75,000, a portion of the money will be donated to the nonprofit.
A few hours after going live on Kickstarter, the project had raised $2,375 from 16 backers. The campaign ends May 21.