OXO Shower Curtain Clip

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While I was at Smart Design this project was given to me midway though it’s completion. I was the primary engineer on the project at that point. Though I didn’t have a very large part in its genesis, it is the first product that I worked on which went to market. You can buy it! More importantly, I can actually put it in my portfolio without breaking any confidentiality agreements!

These clips are meant to prevent splashing water out of the shower. They stick to the wall with adhesive tape and snuggly hold the shower curtain so it doesn’t get sucked away from the wall by your rising shower steam. Huzzah for no more wet floors.

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I came on to the project at a prototyping stage, making shower curtain clips by hitting plastic with a heat gun and bending it by hand. After some showing it around the office we refined the form and the curve for aesthetic and functional reasons, taking a couple versions through to the next stage.

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Every dimension of this simple part was scrutinized. We then moved on to a 3D printed prototype. One nice little detail we added as a result of the prototyping was that the radius of the fillet changes as it goes around the lip so that the part your fingers lift from is a bit sharp and gives a bit more purchase.

P1050732It was close to the end of my internship when I exported the final CAD and sent it off to the client. I didn’t hear about it after that. They must have liked it because it showed up in stores several months later.