Our technological gadgets are designed for portability, not ergonomics: this design gap, together with the increasing use of devices at any time of the day, has given rise to a disease known as iHunch, Text Neck, or iPosture (The New York Times). A wrong posture while using your devices is a threat to the well-being of your spine, eyes, and wrists (Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head) : as an example, a long messaging session on your phone, with your head tilted by 60 degrees, puts a strain on your spine which is equivalent to a 7 years old sitting on your neck.
Making yourself comfortable and changing often position is key to avoiding back pain, or other posture related diseases. Hunching can cause psychological discomfort as well, which works against our creativity and sense of social connectedness (Do slumped and upright postures affect stress responses? A randomized trial).
In other words, while spending time around your devices is intended to make you happy, a bad posture can definitely ruin the party – but good news is, there are simple solutions to that.

Technological devices and softwares get replaced all the time, but the need for good ergonomics stays and requirements are always the same. Therefore you could use some additional ends to tilt your machines instead of your spine – and while you are at it, they could as well be designed to last long, work with as many devices as possible and be beautiful.

Andrea and I, which are hardcore users of music and graphics softwares, designed our first Cremacaffè stand to be a real good friend of our bodies: we carefully planned tilting angles, gave it the velvety touch of wood and the aroma of burnt poplar, and made its lines simple and easy on the eye. Assembly was designed to be easy and playful too, by avoiding screws, keeping parts to a minimum and making it fun as a construction game.

Here are some simple guidelines to get your Best Operating Angles:

• Angles between 10 and 20 degrees are recommended when intensively using your hands and your wrists, to avoid carpal tunnel.

• Graphics, gaming, or using displays in music making, requires higher angles (up to 30 degrees or more) to increase screen height and provide better comfort for your eyes. Sometimes people would rather have the laptop screen at a higher angle (in line with your eyes) and use an additional keyboard; if you need to travel light and this is not a feasible option, changing angle once in a while might be a way of reducing time spent in the same position.

• If you are not using your hands much, i.e. while watching a video from a tablet, you might want to have your screen standing, tilted up to 60 degrees.

Products in the slideshow in order of appearance: Hero · Kolibri · Spike · Kosmo

Changing position according to the task, and understanding which one is a good tilting angle for your machines, will help rest your back, wrists and eyes, without stressing too much any of your creative parts.
That’s why we make adjustable angle stands – every Cremacaffè stand offers you from two to four different configurations. By just turning upside down a stand you get a different angle – with great benefit of your eyes, wrists and neck.

Cremacaffè Design stands: Why wood?

You will be receiving our stands in a nice handmade carrying pouch, as three disassembled pieces. Wood is an elastic material, and pressing gently one piece with another will make your lightweight stand very sturdy (read What People Say), and able to take on countless hours of music making without moving a single inch (Heavy hitters we’ve got your back!). Plus, when you are out on a gig, you can just pack it flat and reassemble your stand in seconds once at destination, thus making your design taste and love for Mother Earth part of the performance. As you can smell once you have a Cremacaffè Design product in your hands, our stands are all good poplar wood, heat pressed together to make it shock resistant, laser cut and hand finished in Italy. Moreover, Cremacaffè stands’ light structure lets air circulate beneath your machine, thus avoiding noise and overheating when this may occur: it is a piece of carefully designed, portable furniture, for creatives and digital nomads alike.

DIY look, Designer feel

The design process, hand sanding and shipping takes your stand to the final cost for which we ship it worldwide, after hand numbering each product one by one. We take care to make the most out of the simple materials we use in terms of comfort, portability and shock resistance – and you will be able to appreciate how good it feels over time. Cremacaffè stands are designed to support as many devices as possible; your stand won’t become obsolete when you buy your next machine.
We also believe that holding a product that really feels like a labor of love can be a great boost to your creativity. As the designer and artist Bruno Munari (Design as Art) once wrote, “anyone who uses a properly designed object feels the presence of an artist who has worked for him, bettering his living conditions and encouraging him to develop his taste and sense of beauty”.