About ProprThings

Using modern tools of design, 3d-printing, testing and refinement, ProprThings is a design studio that develops products that are honed to be useful, elegant, and simple.

Origins

An Everyday Problem

I’ve been working with and around 3D printers for a few years, in both academic and hobby interests.

One day, while reading on my kindle, I realized just how uncomfortable it was to hold a flatscreen device for any meaningful length of time without it becoming uncomfortable or inconvenient. Or worse, I might drop the device on my face while lying down. Even my cat was shaking her head in disgust at the situation. Our flat devices just aren’t made to be read for any length of time without a little help.

It seemed like there ought to be an identified solution out there — a case, accessory, handle — something that would address this very common challenge. Nothing that I researched was really going to work to my satisfaction. I didn’t need something super fancy or high-tech, but I also needed something built-for-purpose. I needed an appropriate solution to the problem — and that’s when I realized how the 3D printer could come in handy.

A “Propr” Solution

So I started designing what I knew would solve the problem.

It wasn’t as easy as I first thought. I tried dozens of different designs, from cases to handles to simple rods and complex hinges.

Over the next 4 months, I designed, produced, tested, and developed a series of prototypes, honing in on a product that had the right mix of features (weight, grip, size, portability, attachability, etc.)

The end result was my prototype — a completely new and original design to hold a tablet device accordingly — the ProprHandle was born.

Of course, I realized in that time and in annoying everyone else around me with this project that I might not be the only one interested. And besides, having a working prototype is quite different than a finished product. I needed to test the market to see if there was interest in this, and make sure I had enough investment to make an initial production run.

Kickstarting the Product

I got some help and we launched a Kickstarter Campaign to finalize, develop and produce the original ProprHandle.

The ProprHandle was designed with iterative development on 3D modeling software and a 3D printer — but we would need more. The final product would require an assembled product that included steel rods, rubber gaskets, washers, and more.

The Kickstarter Campaign completed in April, 2014, with over 40 original backers, allowing us to produce over 100 ProprHandle devices (!)