The Empathy that Built OXO
The story of OXO Good Grips begins not in a boardroom, but with a simple observation of love and frustration. This is the story of how founder Sam Farber, inspired by his wife's arthritis, completely rethought the design of everyday tools. It’s a powerful lesson in how designing with empathy for a specific need can lead to a universally better product for everyone.
A French Kitchen
It began, as great things often do, with a simple, frustrating task. Sam Farber, a retired housewares entrepreneur, was on vacation in a rented home in the south of France with his wife, Betsey. He watched as Betsey, who had arthritis, struggled to peel apples. The peeler was a familiar, unforgiving instrument of thin, hard metal—what Sam would later call a “functional disaster.” Betsey, an architect by training, was irritated by the sheer thoughtlessness of the design. In her pained hands, the peeler was awkward, almost cruel. This was not a new problem, but seeing it there, in the quiet of a French kitchen, something shifted for Sam. He saw not just a faulty tool, but a failure of imagination. Betsey, in her frustration, began to improvise, modeling handles out of clay, searching for a form that would yield to her grip rather than fight it. The question that hung in the air was simple, yet revolutionary: "Why couldn't there be comfortable tools," Sam would later recall asking, "not just for arthritis victims, but for everybody?".
The Unbendable Rule
Back in New York, the question became an obsession. Sam Farber, a man who came from a family of housewares innovators—his uncle founded Farberware—had already built and sold one successful company, Copco. He was supposed to be retired. But the image of his wife’s struggle, and the larger idea it represented, wouldn’t let him go. He realized that the problem wasn't niche; it was universal. Everyone, at some point, had fumbled with a poorly designed handle. He approached the industrial design firm Smart Design, a team he had worked with before. The assignment was clear: develop a line of kitchen tools that were comfortable for everyone. This led to what became an unbendable rule for the new venture: the products could not be relegated to a specialty catalog for people with disabilities. They had to work for everybody and be sold everywhere. This was the core principle of "universal design"—that by solving for those with the most specific needs, you often create something better for all. The designers at Smart Design embraced the challenge, diving into observations of real users. They studied how people held tools, the motions they used, the pressure points in their hands. For the handle, inspiration came from an unexpected place: the soft, finned grips on a bicycle's handlebars. The material they settled on was a departure from the hard plastics and unforgiving metals of typical utensils—a soft, black, rubber-like material that was easy to grip, even when wet.