Mesh elfa drawer system
We are fortunate to represent a client Design Ideas, Ltd., who has the reputation of being "The Mesh Company". They have for many years had an extensive line of products made of metal mesh - some of the early products were trashcans and pencil cups. Some time ago, this client noticed that one of their best customers - The Container Store - had an extremely successful closet organizer product called elfa that consisted of metal wire drawers that slid into and out of a metal rack. A drawback of the wire drawers was that the wires were far apart - perhaps an inch or so - that allowed certain small items to fall through the openings between the wires. Our client designed a mesh version of this product - called mesh elfa that has been a consumer hit in that even very small items can't fall out, and you can still see what's inside the drawers. We have been able to obtain a series of design and utility patents - e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. D486,981 and 6,718,635 - that protect this innovation, so that The Container Store can rest assured that a strong wall of protection exists around this product.
