Looks good, feels good: New iPhone case invented by collegiate entrepreneur

For 19-year-old college student and entrepreneur Sergio Troiani, a standard  case was not good enough for his new iPhone. He wanted the protection that a case offers but something well-designed, stylish and worthy of the Apple-designed phone. "Last year I got my first iPhone 5," he says. "It's all aluminum. Thin. Looks and feel great in my hand. I went a week without the case, then dropped it. I thought to myself, I need to put a case on the phone."

The problem, from Troiani's perspective, was that "all cases are big and bulky, [and] obstruct the beauty of how Apple designed the phone."

Unable to find the perfect case, he did something about it: he invented his own. "I thought to myself, I'm an innovative guy. Let me tackle this problem on my own."

Beginning the design process, Sergio knew he wanted to use aluminum, mimicking the original Apple design, but his research and own testing showed that aluminum cases resulted in poor reception. After eight rounds of prototypes and a signifiant assist from  GR Makers, Troiani invented KLOQE (patent pending), the first all-aluminum case for the iPhone that doesn't negatively affect the phone's reception and adds only 4mm to the height and width of the iPhone. "When I first came up with idea it was just pencil scratches. I found about GR Makers and went to a meeting. I talked to a ton of of people who helped me move the design forward," says Troiani.

Troiani, a sophomore at Grand Valley State University, is in the second phase of developing his product: raising funds. Troiani has created a $25,000 goal for a Kickstarter project. The first 100 buyers will be able to purchase Kloque for $89, while early adopters (everyone after 100) can purchase it for $99. The case is available in all current iPhone 5 and 5s colors.

After the Kickstarter campaign, Troiani says he will be focusing on production, fulfilling his orders and then begin working through distribution and channel challenges. "I'm  still deciding on distribution," he says. "New opportunities are popping up every day."

To learn more about KLOQE, you can visit its Kickstarter campaign here.

Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor