Rob Law's company Magmatic, which designs and distributes children's travel products, is dedicated to making a trip perfect for children and families. Its most well-known product—the Trunki, a child's ride-on suitcase—is a familiar site at airports. But it's not been an easy journey for Law. Having hatched the idea in 1997, it took almost 10 years to turn the firm into a success.
Law had his eureka moment while studying product design at university. Tasked with designing a piece of children's luggage, he went to his local department store for inspiration. Disappointed by the luggage section, he found himself in the toy department looking at children's ride-on toys. "I noticed how ride-on toys wasted space so I decided to create one that encapsulates a lot of space and which could then function as luggage," he explains.
Law approached several manufacturers with his concept but was turned down. "Luggage manufacturers thought it was a toy and toy manufacturers thought it was luggage," he says.
In 2003, with a £4,000 loan from the Prince's Trust, Law founded Magmatic and secured a licensing deal with a toy firm. Unfortunately the partner "did a bad job", selling only 19,000 units to one customer in Saudi Arabia over three years. The company went bust and Law decided to have a crack at it himself. In 2006, the first container of Trunkis arrived and Magmatic began trading.
Two weeks later Law was on BBC's Dragons' Den pitching for investment. Referred to as "the one that got away", he left empty-handed. "Richard [Farleigh] was the only one who offered me investment but I turned him down because he wanted half of my company."
Magmatic is on track this year to turn over £4.5m. By May the company is expected to have shipped its millionth ride-on suitcase, which is available in 62 countries. Law, who is expanding international distribution, has secured finance from his bank to push new products onto the market including the award-winning Trunki BoostApack, a backpack that unfolds into a child's car booster seat, and the Trunki Travel ToyBox.
Law says his biggest challenge so far came a year after he launched when a van was driven into Glasgow airport, sparking a hand-luggage ban. "We realised that perhaps we shouldn't put all our marketing into air travel so we produced Frieda the cow print Trunki the year after and heavily promoted it for car travel."
His biggest reward is seeing Magmatic's products being used at airports. "Particularly if I've come off a red eye and I'm feeling tired, it can get a little bit emotional seeing kids enjoying their Trunkis," he says.
