Local company smells success

By Shaun Inguanzo
SHOPPERS will no longer have to clamp their noses while wandering past an acrylic nail salon, thanks to a Dandenong company’s clever invention.
Arden Pty Ltd specialises in clean rooms, spray booths and other “clean air” technologies.
But the latest product in its catalogue is the revolutionary Nail Salon Desk Vent.
Inventor Alan Mead, 67, said the product sucked vapours and nail dust from underneath the hand of the client and into a special filter.
“Their hand rests at this vent and the air is drawn down into it and goes through two filters to take out particular matter,” he said.
“It then continues along a duct and goes into a box with a fan and carbon absorber (to filter the vapour).
“The air is then clean and that is what goes back into the salon.”
The invention has the endorsement of WorkSafe Victoria, which has selected Arden’s desk vent as a finalist in its Best Solution to a Health and Safety Risk award category at this week’s WorkSafe Awards.
And safety is the key selling point of the device, with the unknown risk of fine particles of acrylic nails and the wafting of chemical vapours being drawn into lungs without the desk vent.
“What we are doing is filtering out fine particles that could otherwise be drawn into the lungs,” Mr Mead said.
“It’s not good if that stuff gets down there and people who work in hospitals and with asthma patients would confirm that a lot things inhaled into the lungs can cause problems.”
The ingenuity of the product has gained the attention of the ABC television show The New Inventors, which aired Arden and Mr Mead’s invention on Wednesday night’s program.
The challenge for the company now is to promote the device both domestically and internationally.
Mr Mead said the desk vent had been on the market for about six months.
“Now that the product is starting to be recognised here, Arden should begin thinking about how to promote it overseas,” he said.