Young couple travels the country and launches a new Sanitary Door Handle Opener product on Kickstarter.

Encinitas, CA — February 11, 2016 | Gryp, a small silicone keychain, allows you to open door handles, hold onto subway rails, push crosswalk buttons and more without having to get your hands dirty. This patent pending design was created by young couple Brooke Abbott and Jason Krumrai after spending a year developing their product while driving across America. “The idea first came to me on a subway in Soul South Korea,” says Krumrai. “I was surrounded by signs telling people not to touch anything, but riding a subway without using handles is pretty difficult.” The concept for the Gryp was soon born and developed on the road as the couple visited large cities across the country, meeting with industrial designers and refining their product.

“We began noticing people’s everyday habits of avoiding germs, like using paper towels to touch bathroom door handles, using elbows to push elevator buttons, or grabbing on to bus hand rails with a sleeve. We wanted to create one device that would keep people’s’ hands clean for all these surfaces,” says Abbott. After a year of prototyping, the couple is introducing their feature product: a flexible silicone design that allows users to “gryp” onto any device without direct contact. The gryp keychain creates an ideal barrier for germs and viruses due to silicone’s microbiological growth resistant properties. It also helps reduce the waste created from people using paper towels to open doors.

Krumrai and Abbott are hoping to raise $4,000 on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to help cover the cost of tooling and the first run of production. Since Kickstarter operates on an all-or-nothing funding model, the couple has 30 days to reach their goal. To follow their project, be sure to find them on Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com), Instagram (www.instagram.com/getagryp) or Facebook (www.facebook.com) and spread the word to your social media networks. You can “get a gryp” for as little as $4 and be one of the first in the world to use a Gryp to avoid germs.

If you would like more information about the Gryp project, or if you’d like to schedule an interview with Jason and Brooke please email grypkeychain@gmail.com