A British inventor’s labour-saving digging device has been endorsed by the Design Council and the Versus Arthritis charity.

Nick Skaliotis had the idea for Kikka Digga - an attachment that makes digging easier with any garden fork or spade - while studying levers in physics class. He thought back to working in the garden and his grandfather’s allotment for pocket money, and realised that creating the right fulcrum point would enable gardeners to dig from a standing position, significantly reducing back strain.

“It can be back-breaking work, even for a healthy, energetic kid, so I could see how bad the problem would be for older gardeners,” says Nick. “I was excited about the potential of the idea, so I took some rough sketches along to a local inventors’ roundtable in Croydon, and then worked with a blacksmith in Streatham to build a prototype.”

A few years on, and Nick has exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and Gadget Show Live, received a European Product Design Award, and sold more than 5,000 UK-made Kikka Digga units. With the initial prototype proving too heavy and too expensive to take to market, it is now made from stainless steel using a state-of-the-art laser cutting manufacture process and weighs just 800g.

The product had a significant boost after being accepted onto the Design Council Spark accelerator programme, which had partnered with Versus Arthritis. The charity works alongside volunteers, healthcare professionals and researchers to develop breakthrough treatments, campaign relentlessly for arthritis to be seen as a priority and provide support to people with arthritis and their families when they need it.

Sarah Odoi, IP development manager at Versus Arthritis, said: “There are over 18 million people in the UK living with arthritis and related conditions, such as back pain. Over half experience life-altering pain every day, affecting everything from work and independence to day-to-day tasks and hobbies such as gardening.

“As a charity we welcome designers, like Nick, who make innovative everyday products that will make a real difference to people with arthritis.”

Hiten Kamari Popat, senior digital manager at the Design Council, said: “We received a series of great applications, each uniquely different in many ways. Nick’s Kikka Digga idea was one of the very few innovations that could be applied outdoors and a keen interest was shown online by potential customers.”

Kikka Digga, SRP: £29.99, is stocked by a number of garden centres.