A young Kingston entrepreneur has caught the eye of local retailers by designing a series of puzzles specifically for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s.

Ben Atkinson-Willes, 21, became interested in Alzheimer’s following his grandfather’s diagnosis with the illness 12 years ago.

After he was set a project to assist people with long term health problems on his product design course at Kingston University, Mr Atkinson-Willes dedicated his time to developing the jigsaw puzzles.

He has since been testing them at Raleigh House Age Concern day centre in New Malden.

He said: “My grandpa wanted to do puzzles but as his disease developed, he was no longer able to do even the most basic ones and using children’s games became patronising.”

The puzzles come in a set of eight and now, after a £5,000 grant from Kingston University, Mr Atkinson-Willes has secured a manufacturer and hopes to start selling the games within a month.

He has already received interest from John Lewis in Kingston and hopes to also sell the puzzles to care homes and day centres directly.

Each game is a simplified jigsaw puzzle using images which relate to the person and can act as a memory stimulus.

Mr Atkinson-Willes hopes to expand the range to tailor the images on each puzzle for each person, for example using a family photo.

He said: “The feedback on the games from Alzheimer’s sufferers has been very positive and seeing their sense of achievement when finishing one has been great to watch.”

Mr Atkinson-Willes now plans to take a year out and concentrate on marketing the games before starting a masters at the Royal College of Art.