AUSTRALIA | Assistive technology company Ennova has developed a new approach to bathroom mobility equipment with its award-winning Oasis Chair, combining practical support with contemporary design and greater personal choice.
The shower chair received two honours at the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards, winning Best in Class for Product Design, Furniture and Lighting, and a Gold Award in Product Design, Medical and Scientific.
Designed to move away from the clinical appearance traditionally associated with assistive equipment, the Oasis Chair incorporates softer, rounded forms and is available in three colours: Bottlebrush Pink, Eucalypt Green, and Bondi Blue.
Ennova Managing Director Eilish Parsons said the concept grew from co-founder Samuel Harding’s experience as an Occupational Therapist working with people who were reluctant to introduce assistive equipment into their homes, despite the practical benefits it could offer.
Traditional shower chairs can be associated with frailty and declining mobility, even when their purpose is to help people maintain independence and manage everyday activities more safely.
The company approached the Oasis Chair as functional furniture, considering how the equipment would look and feel within a residential bathroom alongside its clinical requirements.
Developed through surveys, individual interviews, and paid co-design sessions, the chair incorporates feedback from older adults, wheelchair users, and people living with chronic illness.
Practical innovations include bi-directional armrests that move to provide different options for accessing the seat and assisting with transfers. Height-adjustable legs and a tool-free pack-down system allow the chair to be stored or transported, with the legs fitting within the chair itself.
Attention was also given to smaller details. The leg-adjustment buttons were redesigned with larger, flatter surfaces after participants identified difficulties operating smaller buttons on conventional shower chairs.
Materials include powder-coated aluminium, stainless steel, engineered plastics, and silicone components selected for durability, comfort, and use in wet environments.
For retirement village developers and operators, particularly those providing independent living accommodation, the design offers another consideration when selecting equipment to support residents' changing mobility requirements.
The ability to offer equipment that complements residential interiors while accommodating individual preferences may influence how readily people accept additional support in their homes.
However, the Oasis Chair has been developed primarily for individual use, and its suitability must be assessed against each person's mobility, balance, transfer requirements, and bathroom configuration.
Ennova has not yet established evidence for shared-resident use or institutional cleaning and infection-control procedures in aged care facilities. Feedback to date has come from the co-design process, testing of final production samples, and purchasers discussing their buying decisions, rather than longer-term use in customers' homes.
The Oasis Chair is Ennova's first product, with a simpler, lower-cost shower stool already under consideration. The company is also exploring further products addressing mobility and daily living. The development reflects an increasing emphasis on personal choice in assistive equipment, where design, comfort, and appearance can be considered alongside clinical function when selecting products for residential environments.
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