In 2005, my son Nino, aged 5 at the time, had a stroke. A long and difficult time of rehabilitation ensued.

Nino fought his way back from a functionless body to a wheelchair and walking stick until he could walk again unaided. However, the right side of his body remained paralysed despite many therapies.

My son faced a series of challenges which he could not manage with one hand. For Nino, even closing zips on waistcoats and jackets proved to be an insurmountable hurdle. He always needed the help of others and he often felt very uncomfortable. Like probably many affected people, we went to diverse orthopaedics shops to find an adequate aid. We were surprised to find that such aid was not available.

After that experience, we started to look for possibilities themselves. After many approaches, prototypes and failures, the o.h.o. zip-closing-aid was born in 2010. Nino has been successfully using our joint invention since then.
 

With the aim to make our aid available to everyone with the relevant handicap, the first step towards our own business was taken in 2015.

In this way, we hope to be able to give all users a bit of independence.

Nino & Edeltraud Barwig