ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996 TAG: 9604160002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: KAREN SCHWARTZ ASSOCIATED PRESS
What do Playboy clubs, bedpans and garlic cloves have in common?
Ben Omessi, a retired architect who has come up with what may be the hottest kitchen gadget since the ice cube tray, the E-Z-Rol Garlic Peeler.
``There hasn't been anything really new in the cookware or housewares markets in quite a while,'' Paige Watson, manager of the kitchen supply store Broadway Panhandler, said of Omessi's invention.
On a recent Saturday, she was selling the $6 garlic peelers at a rate of about one per minute. In two weeks, she sold 3,000.
Zanne Stewart, executive food editor for Gourmet magazine, has recommended the E-Z-Rol to her staff. ``I hope he's a nice man who deserves to become wealthy,'' she said of Omessi.
He is, according to people who know Omessi. In fact, he didn't design the garlic peeler to get rich; he did it because he wanted to make a simple tool that would help the disabled in the kitchen. And that is what one would expect from an architecht whose specialty and first love was health care facilities.
``Ben really became attached to the idea of using his engineering skills and creativity to make things that would help the disabled,'' said Bruce Schurman, president of the Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital and Clinics in Wheaton, Ill.
As he walked through a hospital, Omessi's inventor instinct would note the ways people could be made more comfortable. He patented two of his devices: an adjustable tray that lets people in wheelchairs eat at any table and a no-spill urine bottle for male patients.
``Ben looks constantly for how you can make sure an individual has dignity,'' said Robert Main, president of the Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation in Chattanooga, Tenn.
``I've never met a more unassuming individual who cares so much about people.''
After graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Omessi worked on shopping centers and spent some time with the firm that designed the Chicago Civic Center. He also worked for Playboy when the company was building its clubs and hotels before settling into the health care industry.
But when a heart condition persuaded Omessi, now 64, to retire from architecture, he moved from Chicago to Northridge, Calif., and decided to devote himself to designing for people with disabilities.
The idea for a garlic peeler came after his own triple bypass in 1991. While recuperating, he found he was too weak to stand and peel garlic while his wife cooked.
``So she said, `You invent for others, why don't you invent something?''' he recalled.
Realizing that people who are blind, or arthritic, or single-handed would probably share his predicament, Omessi began his quest for the perfect peeler.
``It's very easy to design something that's complicated,'' he said. ``It's bringing it down to its simplest form that's complicated.''
The process took a couple of years, and involved a series of designs that took the peeler from a flat device to a tube.
He spent five months working with a lab to come up with the right combination of silicone and thermal plastic.
He wanted a flexible material that would adhere to the garlic skin without damaging the clove, and a plastic that wouldn't harden over time. He also wanted a compound that wouldn't retain odor, could withstand the heat of a dishwasher and one that was made of materials approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The final design is a 51/2-inch-long tube of soft, rubbery plastic. The garlic clove is placed inside the tube, which is then gently rolled against the counter. After a few turns, the garlic is free of its papery skin.
He set up a company, named after his son, Elan, a physician specializing in neuro-radiology, and took the E-Z-Rol to a few stores to see what they thought of it. It caught on, promoted by word of mouth, radio and newspaper articles.
Although he's never advertised and put no phone number on the peeler package, Omessi has gotten calls and orders from around the country. He said he's been interviewed on Australian radio and been contacted by a Japanese film crew wanting to make a documentary.
Omessi and his wife, Marcia, handle the orders themselves. He said that so far, he's sold a few hundred thousand peelers and turned down a handful of casual offers to sell the business.
The peeler wholesales for about $4 and the suggested list is double that. Omessi is mum on his actual costs, but said he's broken even on his investment. He hasn't gotten rich, but that was never his goal.
``Certainly I was able to retire before that. That's not the issue,'' he said. ``The issue is creating something really worthwhile that people can use.''
And, he said, the hundreds of letters he's received praising his device are his greatest source of satisfaction.
``You're touching their lives. You've been where no one else has been. That's not an ego trip. It just feels good,'' he said. ``It makes you want to go on. And I will.''
So at 2 a.m., when he's done boxing up orders for the E-Z-Rol, Omessi sets aside a little time to work on his next invention - an onion peeler.
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Ben Omessi shows off his E-Z-Rol Garlic Peeler, nowby CNBthe hottest gadget in the kitchen, at his home in Northridge, Calif.
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