I've been working on an exciting project recently with the wonderful Deb Urbanwide Bassett. We launched recently, but I've been too busy to blog about it. The idea started when my back started to hurt. I'd gone freelance and was using my laptop far more than I ever had before. I was using it at client offices, at home and at the coworking space in Old Broadcasting House. Using my laptop so much was making my back hurt.

The great thing about working in a coworking space, rather than working by yourself is that you can complain discuss the issues you're having. It turned out that my back laptop issues were quite common and several people had laptop stands to make using a laptop more comfortable. I met Deb at Geek Up, but got chatting to her at Old Broadcasting House. She had a really nice portable laptop stand, but it didn't work with my laptop and was really expensive. I looked around for a laptop stand that would be portable and wasn't expensive, but I couldn't find one. So, inspired by Deb I made my own out of the cardboard box my laptop had been delivered in. I was really pleased with it and I had a laptop stand that was portable and worked even better than I thought it would. My problem was solved.

Deb liked my laptop stand so much that she wanted one herself. We talked about it and thought we'd have a go at making more and selling them. We got really excited about the idea. I love the feeling when you feel inspired by an idea and all the possibilities. Then the actual work began. Well it did for Deb. I did all the fun jobs like designing the logo and drawing diagrams. Deb did all the hard work like finding a manufacturer and sorting out the online ordering. We also had a lot of fun together making and testing new prototypes that improved on my original design.

This has been a side project alongside our freelance work, so it's taken us a while to get here. We've learnt loads while we've been doing this and it's been a lot of fun. It's nice to be making a physical product, it's a change from my normal digital projects. There's still lots to learn and lots to do. Like learning how to export stuff. It should be easy, but it seems really complicated. I made the product website very quickly; we just wanted to get things rolling. So improving the website is one of the things high on our to do list.

You can see our cardboard laptop stand at www.cardboardlaptopstand.com. We hope you like it, and if you need a strong, light, portable laptop stand then I'd recommend you buy one.