When Ageist Magazine — the publication chronicling how the 50+ generation is rewriting the rules of aging — profiled NULU President and Co-founder Douglas Katz, they captured something bigger than a product story. They captured a shift in how we think about adaptive design, aging, and the tools we use every day to feed ourselves.
The feature, "Douglas Katz, 54: Cutting a New Path," written by David Stewart, traces the origin of NULU from a very personal problem: a West Point graduate and veteran with chronic upper-body issues wanted to keep cooking for himself. Traditional knives weren't built for the way his body worked anymore — and he realized they weren't built for millions of other people either.
Force Transfer Geometry: Engineering That Adapts to You
At the core of NULU is a design principle we call Force Transfer Geometry (FTG). As Doug explained in the Ageist interview: "By abandoning the traditional knife aesthetic in favor of more efficient design, we situated the control and cutting areas in a more aligned manner."
Translation: a knife shouldn't require you to contort your wrist, over-grip, or generate force from the wrong muscles. Every one of those inefficiencies is a design failure — one that traditional cutlery quietly blames on the user's body. NULU flips that equation. The tool adapts to the human.
The Ability Curve: Beyond the Able-Bodied Binary
One of the most important ideas in the Ageist feature is what Doug calls The Ability Curve — a proprietary model that replaces the pass-fail "able-bodied vs. disabled" paradigm with a spectrum.
"Disabled, in this context, means less able to perform the task. This is not pass-fail grading but occurs on a scale as the task becomes more difficult, which more people can identify with."
Arthritis flares. Tendinitis comes and goes. A confident cook at 45 has different needs at 65. The Ability Curve gives designers, clinicians, and product teams a way to build for the task, not the label — and it's how the adaptive market moves from small niche to broad appeal.
A Team Built on Experience
NULU's entire team is over 50, and most are veterans. In the Ageist feature, Doug describes what corporate America overlooks: "wisdom, poise, service, collaboration, humility, and generosity." It's a bet on lived experience as a competitive advantage — and, so far, it's paying off.
Read the Full Story
The full Ageist feature covers Doug's open-heart surgery and recovery, his 1st Degree Black Belt Aikido test taken with a new aorta, his path from West Point to founder, and what's next for the adaptive product market. It's worth reading in full.
As Featured In
Ageist Magazine — "Douglas Katz, 54: Cutting a New Path"
By David Stewart · November 7, 2024
"Douglas Katz' story is that of a veteran who, from his service, has disabilities, saw a problem, and created a solution — not just for himself but for others who may also have the same issues... In the process, the West Point graduate invented an entirely new form of knife called the NULU."
