Louise Doumange and Yann Lortz have so far sold 202 door handles. - LY Protection

  • A couple of students from Strasbourg have created a door handle that allows them to be opened without hands. With the elbow or forearm.
  • The duo embarked on this adventure in full confinement "to keep busy, it was a bit of a delusion".
  • Two types of over-handles have been created at LY Protection, which adapt according to the shape of the latch. They are sold for 13 euros each.

How about creating an over-handle to avoid opening the doors with your hand? This is the challenge launched by a couple from Strasbourg during the period of confinement linked to the coronavirus. “It was mainly Yann, my boyfriend, who got started. I supported him, ”laughs Louise Doumange, thinking back to this unexpected parenthesis.

Nothing predisposed the duo of ... hotel and restaurant students to embark on this adventure. “It all started with a dentist friend of Yann's father who was tired of having to take off and put on his gloves when he passed a door. He wanted to open them without the hands and asked us if the latches existed ”, rewinds the young girl, 21 years old. “We found them on the Internet but the price was exorbitant. So we said to ourselves, why wouldn't we do it? We needed to take care, it was a bit of a delusion. "

Plastic "starch-based"

Her partner Yann Lortz, 22, took it very seriously. "For two weeks, he almost never left the room!" Laughs his girlfriend again. He knew how to model from his technical baccalaureate and got down to it. It absolutely had to be easy to put the elbow or the forearm. It remained to see what his creation would give in real ...

At the end of April, the couple invested in a 3D printer. "The first tests were successful, but we had to rework a few little things." Like fixing the object, or the different forms of latches on which it should fit. Then find the material in which the famous tool would be offered. “We opted for starch-based plastic. It comes from a producer in the Vosges and it's a little greener, ”says Louise Doumange, now in charge of marketing the product.

"We are super proud to offer this"

Put on sale on May 11, the two types of “LY protection” over-handle, for Louise and Yann, sold 202 copies. “We had a very large order for 200, then a restaurant owner in Paris took two. For individuals, that's not it yet. It is difficult to be known. "

The price, fixed at 13 euros each, also slows some of them off… “We could have done it a little cheaper but we also have to get our costs back,” admits Louise Doumange, who has invested nearly 1,000 euros with his friend. “For the moment, we haven't lost anything and if it stops tomorrow, it will remain a great adventure. We have taken a step into the adult world and we are very proud to offer this. It can really help everyone with coronavirus right now. "

Louise Doumange and Yann Lortz's bedroom has been transformed into a workshop for manufacturing door handles. - LY Protection

The couple, whose room now houses three 3D printers and all the materials necessary for the design of their product, now have a stock of 100 on-latches. All ready to go if ordered by phone or via their Facebook page, and all black. "But if someone asks us in pink, we are able to do it," concludes the Strasbourg student.

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  • Health
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
  • Strasbourg