The Family Seat is a toilet seat with built in addition for kids, we spoke to director David Lewis about ideas, inventions and Dragon's Den.

Where did the idea for the Family Seat come from?

I was introduced to the chap that came up with the idea and he's a parent and, at the time, his first son was two or three years old and they used an insert for him to use the toilet. They sometimes wobble about and aren't that sturdy and one day he scratched his thigh getting off it and wouldn't go back on. His dad is an aerospace engineer and went off to his garage to make an alternative and this is what he came up with.

So it really is almost rocket science?

He put in their bathroom and it worked brilliantly and friends and family started asking where they'd got it, to which he replied 'well, I made it' and he realised he was on to a winner. He applied for a patent and I met him through mutual friends about seven or eight months later. I felt a bit like Victor Kiam in that I loved the product so much I bought the company - we ran it together for a few years until last December until he decided to return to his day job as an engineer.

So what's your role in the company?

I came in to help him with manufacturing and marketing, that's my background, and we've taken it from there. We started off with an mdf version and then we went into the polypropelene injected moulded model. They're selling very successful to places likes nurseries, activity centres and theme parks.

It's all very Dragon's Den isn't it?

Exactly, I was just very fortunate at the time that I didn't need to rush off to find a dragon, in fact I suppose I was the dragon if you look at it from that point of view.

Is this your first job in the bathroom industry?

Yes, I was bought up in the design and manufacturing side of the clothing business. So a lot of the principles are the same, just a different product. In fact, it's a much easier product to work with as it doesn't have issues of seasonality, fashion and varying sizes.

My first thought was 'surely someone has done this already?'

Me too, but sometimes things are so simple that no one thinks of them. There were some ideas that were along the same lines but, to my amazement, they'd never been seen through so we've done it.

Who's buying them?

On the retail side we sell very successfully through the likes of John Lewis, Mothercare and mother and baby specialists. We now sell through some bathroom specialists and online stores too.

Is there an argument for this being in every primary school in the country?

Exactly, one company has already told us that this should become the standard in pre-schools and nurseries. But also places like McDonalds or Pizza Hut and anywhere families with young kids will go.

www.familyseat.com