chemical engineering for physical products
Formulation, materials selection, biocompatibility and process design for startups and SMEs. Our chemists work alongside our electronic engineers and industrial designers in our London lab, so material choices are made with the rest of the product instead of handed over at the end. You keep all the IP.
Prefer email? info@fiddlie.com
Our lab: 8 Ratcliffe Cross St, London E1 0HS
engineering partner to
chemical engineering services
formulation development
Stable, scalable formulations that perform the same in the field as they did on the bench, developed with your manufacturing route in mind from the first batch.
materials selection
Polymers, coatings and adhesives chosen for the use, the environment and the manufacturing process, not just the datasheet.
biocompatibility
Material selection and validation planning for wearables and medical devices that touch skin, so you know where you stand before paying for formal testing.
chemical tests & sensing
The chemistry behind tests and sensors, developed alongside the electronics that read it, so the two are designed to work together.
process design & scale-up
Lab processes designed with scale-up, safety and cost in mind, documented so a manufacturer can pick them up.
regulatory guidance
Working out which chemical and materials rules apply to your product, such as REACH and RoHS, before they become a launch problem.
case study
a clothing tag that knows when it's been worn
A retail technology startup wanted to stop returns fraud: shoppers buying clothes, wearing or washing them, then sending them back for a full refund. Returns staff had no quick, reliable way to tell a worn garment from a new one.
Our chemists developed a colour-reactive indicator and built it into a tamper-resistant tag. The hard part was the balance: it has to stay put through handling, shipping and time on a shop rail, then react clearly to a wash cycle or to being worn. That meant working the indicator chemistry, the tag materials and the attachment together rather than as separate problems.
washed or worn
Reacts to a wash cycle or to wear, and ignores everything a garment goes through before it's sold.
tamper-resistant
Can't be removed and refitted without leaving a mark.
read at a glance
A colour change returns staff can check in seconds, with no scanner or app.
Sector: Retail & fashion technology. Engagement type: chemistry R&D - indicator formulation, materials selection and tamper-resistant tag design.
chemistry and electronics under one roof
Most chemistry consultancies stop at the formulation, and most electronics firms won't touch it. Plenty of products need both: a sensor whose reagent has to live next to a PCB, a wearable whose strap can't irritate skin, a coating that has to stay put on a flexible circuit.
Material problems tend to show up late. A strap that irritates skin after a week, a coating that fails after a month, a sensor chemistry that drifts. Bringing chemistry in at the start catches them while they're still cheap to fix.
one team, one lab
Chemists, electronic engineers and industrial designers working side by side in London. No handoffs between suppliers, and no gaps where the chemistry meets the hardware.
results you can build on
Specifications, process documentation and test data your manufacturer or test house can work from without starting again.
protected IP, transparent terms
NDA from first conversation. Fixed-price stages, quoted up front. Full IP ownership transferred to you.
our process
1. initial meeting
Talk through your product with one of our chemists under NDA.
2. free fixed quote
We prepare a proposal split into fixed-price stages.
3. feasibility
Literature review, materials shortlist and experimental plan, so the risky questions get answered first.
4. lab development
We iterate on formulations and prototypes until the results hold up.
5. scale-up
Processes and samples prepared for pilot runs, field trials or regulatory testing.
6. handover
Results, process documentation and all generated IP handed over to you.