Andreas De Smedt - Founder

As a child, i grew up loving nature and spent a lot of time wandering, biking and discovering the surrounding areas with my friends. Growing up on the countryside of Belgium and spending a lot of time outside my house made me feel free. When i was at home i felt confined , as a result i was super active at home too. When I had to do my homework, my parents thought the best way to help me focus was to put my desk against the wall. But what I realise now is that, nature is the only thing that helps us, the people relax. 

I went to the University of Ghent to study Electromechanical engineering then i moved to Brussels to do an advanced masters in entrepreneurship at Solvay Business School. Afterwards, I have obtained a job as an Electromechanical engineer for Toyota Motor Europe. It was the first time for me to work in an open space with 300 people. I worked in this office over 3 years and was using earplugs on a daily basis to try to escape.

Meanwhile i was searching for a solution to escape, i couldn't bear the fact that i would spend my life trapped in this kind of environment. This is why I left Toyota in 2017 to develop my own business and started designing solutions which would have allowed me to focus in such an environment. 

Winding road

A good product is the result of a long process of ups and downs together with hard work. My product didn't appear with sudden luck.

I started subletting caravans on remote locations to create a workspace where focus was possible. This business however couldn`t be scaled up to a large company. Next, I developed a bike trailer with a solar panel to charge your computer. I made one in steel and two in aluminium. However, I realized that a battery would do the job so this heavy, bulky and expensive solar panel could be eliminated.

I reduced the size to a suitcase to make the workspace more mobile. It had a unique folding mechanism and it was made in wood. There were 8 different hinges however that didn't make it as user friendly and it would always weight more than 8kg. To reduce the weight below 2kg, I eliminated the heaviest component, the chair and shaped it into a standing desk. After I realized that for some people working outside would be a big step, that’s why I added the suction cup. Near the glass, you are already halfway.

I live in an appartment in Brussels and I don't have enough space to build my prototypes. This is the main reason I launched the company from a shed in my parents' beloved garden in Gooik. You can find pictures of my prototypes below. Luckily I’m in good company, I have the guts to ask for advice and I’m gratefull for all the people who have helped me along the way. A special thanks as well to the Solvay Business School incubator.

Prototypes

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