Presbyterian Support Central staff have received a donation of 500 nose clips from Art-isan in Manawatū.
“We’re very grateful to receive them. Our frontline and in fact all staff wear masks right through their shifts and if they also wear glasses the fog makes it hard to see,” says Longview Home manager Noelette Matthews.
Art-isan have now donated close to 20,000 nose clips throughout New Zealand and currently have another 12,000 being made this week to further donate.
Currently all the money generated from sales has been put back in to getting as many clips out to front line staff as quickly as possible.
For every nose clip sold Art-isan can donate two nose clips to the community, which includes frontline staff at DHBs, GPs, healthcare and community groups.
Ben Robertson started 3-D printing anti-fog nose clips, which are a boon to those wearing a mask and glasses, to give away to the community for free during the latest lockdown. He says as word spread so did the orders.
“Soon we had seven printers working around the clock printing as many nose clips as we could. Due to the time and cost involved, we had to start asking a small fee for them. Now we are getting these made here in the Manawatū via injection moulded ABS plastic, which makes them 100 times more durable and virtually indestructible!
“Art-isan consists of myself and my amazing wife Sana, who is a nurse. We both deal with the day-to-day running of the operations, making the nose clips and ear savers, fixing and maintaining the machines, all while working our full-time jobs and raising a small family,” says Ben.
The Art-isan team recently brought on board an administrator to provide much needed support for the 300-500 emails they get per day and to keep the sales operation ticking over like a well-oiled machine in the background.