Can you give us a little bit of background on Ian White and Grasshopper Products? What is your story?
I'm originally from England and moved to the US 10 years ago. I obtained my PhD from Cornell University where I studied adult stem-cell biology, trying to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of cancer. I'm now working at UGA with a focus on cardiac stem cells and post heart attack recovery. While at Cornell I fished many of the rivers in NY and this is when I invented the monoMASTER.
Where did you get the idea for the monoMASTER and how many different models and prototypes did you develop before you came up with the final version?
I was frustrated dealing with my own waste mono and the waste of others. My pockets were full of waste mono and it would keep getting tangled with my other equipment. Worse, if I forgot about it it would end up falling out into the water or into my washing machine. Each year anglers in the U.S. generate enough waste monofilament to go around the Earth 45 times. As mono takes over 600 years to degrade in the environment it is easy to see how this is a growing problem. I started looking around for a practical solution to securely store my waste mono, but couldn't find anything. other people used plastic baggies and other containers, but they all required a lot of work and it was just too easy to not use them. I wanted to come up with something that was as easy to use as it would be to just toss the waste away. It also had to be something that was easy to access and reusable. I went to the hardware store and spent what money I had in my pocket on piping and other material and locked myself in my apt with a bottle of wine to see what I could come up with. I went through a lot of iterations that were rather complex and involved springs and flaps and all kinds of gimmicks. But, I just couldn't see anyone actually using it. I threw it all out and went back to basics. I grabbed a camera film case and cut a window in the side. I wrapped the wine cork in velcro and stuck a nail in the bottom. I dropped it into the film case and had the first prototype of the monoMASTER. It functioned surprisingly well and I worked from there to refine the design and function.
How long has the monoMASTER been on the market?
I launched it at the Somerset, NJ flyfishing expo in January, 2008. I sold over 200 during the 2 days of the show. I received a lot of comments from the other exhibitors about the attention the monoMASTER was receiving and I realized that anglers really felt the same way i did about collecting waste mono and were keen for a practical solution to this. I then hired someone to design a website and I contacted Orvis and Cabela's and things have grown from there. The monoMASTER is now available in stores acrosse the country and internationally from Canada and Europe to Japan.
How do you think that products like the monoMASTER, biodegradable fishing lines, and other eco-friendly products will change fishing in the future?
I'd like to think that anglers will be inclined to use these products for the sake of conserving the environments in which we chose to pass our time. As anglers we are not only sportsmen and sportswomen, but we're also wardens of the streams, rivers and ponds in which we fish. Most anglers are conscientious and willing to do what they can to protect our waters for future generations. We have designed the monoMASTER to be as light, compact and easy to use as possible so that anglers can use it to help preserve the environment in an effortless and clutter-free way. We hope it will contribute directly to reducing the burden of waste mono and also indirectly by making people think a little more about what happens to all the waste they generate.
What is next for Grasshopper Products?
Well, we're working on a few other ideas right now. We have one other eco-friendly product in the works and a couple other products to make the outdoor experience more enjoyable. The monoMASTER is still a new introduction to the industry, but with recognition from Field & Stream, Trout Unlimited and others we're getting the word out there. We just hope anglers will keep using it and bring it to the attention of their friends, family and fellow members of the various fishing groups they might be associated with.
Besides offering T.F.M. readers a great deal on purchasing a monoMASTER with a free zinger this month, it should also be noted that Ian White gives $3 to the Federation of Fly Fishers Conservation Fund for each monoMASTER that is sold and the customer uses the coupon code "FEDERATION".
Thanks Ian for an interesting interview and I look forward to what is coming next for your company.
No comments:
Post a Comment