Graham Dalton was sailing alone somewhere in the Southern Ocean, in a cabin the size of a dog kennel, when he looked at his stove and thought: "Why are pots round?"
The brother of Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton, Graham saw a gap in the market for space-saving square cookware that would let fellow sailors take advantage of the limited room in a boat's kitchen.
After more than two years of planning and designing, Dalton has registered global patents for a set of square pots and pans, sold under the brand SmartSpace.
The pots are designed to maximise the space available on a stove and slot inside each other for easy storage.
Within a week of the products hitting shelves last month, Dalton said stores around the country called him saying they had run out of stock.