Seeing Britta's desire for a flexible standing desk solution, Neema Buyu crafted a practical, elegant piece that enhanced both comfort and style. What's your wish?
A request by Britta from Hamburg, Germany
Hi, I am looking for a flexible solution for my desk that enables me to work in a standing position, easy to set-up and remove on demand; similar to these products:
https://upstaa.com/de/schaufenster/
White or dark wood colour would suit my desk best.
Do you need any further details for a quote? Just let me know. Kind regards
Britta
The Journey of Creating customized solution to work standing at the table
Negotiation & Planning
customized solution to work standing at the table - design ideas and artisan proposals
Hello Britta, I am happy to provide an offer for your idea, to do so I'd need to know what dimensions you would like it to be (height and width). To be able to actualize your idea, i would need to use a CNC machine to make the cuts I’ll keep you updated with videos and photos of the production process. and to have a dark finish I can use mahogany which would be more pricy or I can make it out of Cyprus and stain it dark. I’ve uploaded a photo of the item in white, let me know if you prefer it in that color
Hi Nehme, great to hearing from you so quickly. Your offer sounds good, I think it is sufficient for me if you use Cyprus and stain it dark. How much would the difference in pricing be? The dimensions can be 80 cm (broad of lower board), 40 cm (depth) and 80 cm (hight), similar to the UpstaaXL-model (link: https://upstaa.com/en/sizes/)
Many thanks and best regards from Hamburg, Britta
Fantastic I can work with the Cyprus and stain it dark, if you'd like the mahogany instead the cost of material would go up by 3,500.
Hi Neema (apologies for spelling your name wrong - it got auto-corrected earlier!!), many thanks, regarding this price-difference, I am very happy to stick with Cyprus and a dark-brown staining 🙂
No problem about the typo, happens a lot. I'll work with the Cyprus and dark brown stain, I have all the information I need to start. Thank you for your response
Crafting Process
How to make a customized solution to work standing at the table – work in progress
Good morning, hope this finds you well, I received the down payment yesterday and will be able to purchase and begin the project on Monday. I will share pictures of the materials and the steps as I go along. Hope you have a lovely day
Good morning Neema, that‘s great, happy to hear that all is well and you‘re ready to start next week 🙂 Looking forward to seeing pictures of progress, many thanks for your kind care.
Have a lovely day as well, kind regards
You are most welcome, thank you for working with me
Many thanks!
Good morning, here is a sketch of the item plus the dimensions, what's your take on the dimensions of the surface boards and the balancing board that makes it stand
Hi Neema, many thanks. All in all, I am fine with the scetch but think it needs to adjusted to smaller proportions. Can you adjust the depth of the balancing board, as my desk is only 60 cm deep? I would have problems using the board as it would not fit…
I think the horizontal surface boards can also be a bit shorter (70 for the lower and 45 for the upper board). Thanks and kind regards
I have attached a sketch with letter markings (A-H) could you help me by indicating how many centimeters each letter represents.
Hi, I am currently travelling/not at home, wil return next Monday and get back to you with the measurements then, ok? Thanks and kind regards Britta
No problem, thanks for the feedback
Hi Neema, please find below the measures (in cm) fitting to my desk.
A 35
B 80
C 40
D 25
E 75
F 25
G 80
H 40
Many thanks for the scetch, very helpful in avoiding misunderstandings and increasing transparency and clarity 🙂
Best regards from Hamburg
Britta
Asante sana, now I have all the information I need to start on the project.
Amazing 🤗
Good evening, attached are pictures of
half of the project pieces cut and glued together, next part is joining the second half and shaping it so the bottom is 80cm wide and the top 35cm wide and 80cm tall.
👏 👏 👏 first steps look really good, many thanks for keeping me in the loop. Exciting process 🙂
I'm glad you're enjoying the process, can't wait to get to the final product. Do have a lovely night
Good morning, the dimensions on G are too wide to be supported by H, we would have to make it smaller or buy more wood which increases the cost. What would you advice
Good morning, can you please specify how much smaller G would get to ensure H=40?
This would make it easier for me to decide 🙂
Many thanks and kind regards
Let me work on sketches to help you visualize as well what we have based on the dimensions you shared and what we can do if there's need for change to resemble the picture you'd shared
Hey Britta, I have attached a sketch of the item, the one at the top is the shape it would take using the dimensions you shared and the one at the bottom is what we would scale it down to look like. So G would go from 80cm to 56cm
Hi Neema, apologies for my late reply, I was traveling and could not measure dimensions at my desk. Thanks for the sketch, looks good, I am fine with G = 56 cm, please proceed. Many thanks and kind regards Britta
Sorry for the late response as well, thank you for the feedback and go ahead
👍
Good morning, attached are pictures of the item cut and now ready for another round of sanding before we stain and vanish it
Good morning, it looks like good progress, many thanks for sharing the update. Kind regards Britta
Thank you for the feedback, it sure is coming together well. Do have a lovely day
☺️
We're now on the final stage of staining it then vanish and we're done. I have attached an image of a stained headboard, what do you think of that color
Hi Neema, first of all: Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!!
The colour looks amazing, like the perfect fit 🥳
Fantastic, thank you so much and merry Christmas to you and yours as well
👍 Happy New Year 🙂
Happy new year ☺️, your item is ready and looking pretty good, I have attached a couple of pictures and videos, looking forward to your response.
Happy new year ☺️, your item is ready and looking pretty good, I have attached a couple of pictures and videos, looking forward to your response.
Hi Neema and happy new year to you as well ☺️ Wow, the desk topper looks amazing, such a great piece of work!!! 👏👏👏
Hello Britta,
My name is Noel, Local operations manager, Nairobi. I'm currently reviewing the quality of your product. In general, the overall quality of the product is amazing but I thought it's best to inform you that some of the surfaces are rough. Neema has told me that this is as a result of the reaction with the stain and the vanish. She'd have sanded it more to make it smooth but the product would loose the dark color and the wood would be too fragile. Kindly let us know if you're okay with the texture and we'll ship the product as soon as possible.
Regards
Noel
Good evening, so sorry for the delay in response, we needed to fix the bottom bit of the stand because it was really fragile, and smoothen some surfaces. We should be done with it by Tuesday and send it over to UCL.
So sorry for any inconveniences caused, I have attached an image to show where we are working on
Hi Neema and hi Noel, many thanks for your updates. No worries - good quality takes it‘s time and I am happy that you could identify the issue and were able improve/fix it.
Many thanks and best regards
Britta
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. We aim to impress.
I am sure that you will achieve this goal 🤗
Good morning, I have attached the final product, done and ready for shipping once you approve of it
Hi Neema, many thanks. I like the shape of it, really looking good. The colour looks a bit uneven (very light at some parts) though - is this on purpose?
Thanks and kind regards
Britta
The light bits are caused by how each section of the wood responds to the stain. Usually pieces of wood have knots which respond different from the rest of the wood.
Ok, thanks for the explanation 🙂
Good morning Britta, I just received your feedback and I'm sorry it doesn't work well for you. I'd like to fix that and work on the order again. I'm made to understand that the 90 degree angle parallel to the ground is what's making it uncomfortable to use, so we will work on the angle the two levels joins the main board. Is there any more feedback or corrections you'd like made, and again so sorry for any inconveniences.
Hi Neema, many thanks - the two boards should be parallel to the plain table,,otherwise it would harm ankles and shoulders on long-term use. I found a picture online that gives a good view on angles:
https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/990555291/laptop-stehpult-medium-stand-desk-medium?gbraid=0AAAAADutTMcYhhgR5_b5DbqXrfYcaDEKC&gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_de_de_de_a-home_and_living-office-office_and_desk_storage&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiA1JGRBhBSEiwAxXblwZdGfE9GVsvDZNvq2I0amiUSCV40m0td-721Dl2HMU9HmhPjVJDK5hoCkIYQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_6481804037_83419492251_381093103109_pla-305377240956_m__990555291dede_534565334&utm_custom2=6481804037&gbraid=0AAAAADutTMcYhhgR5_b5DbqXrfYcaDEKC&gclid=CjwKCAiA1JGRBhBSEiwAxXblwZdGfE9GVsvDZNvq2I0amiUSCV40m0td-721Dl2HMU9HmhPjVJDK5hoCkIYQAvD_BwE
The different wood boards seem to be a bit slippery, I was not sure if it was stable enough to carry laptop and being in use without the risk of dropping down.
It was a bit flexible as well, so maybe you can check on statics / non-flexibility when your building it?
Many thanks and kind regards
Britta
Good morning Britta, we've gotten started on your project, thank you so much for the link it's provided really good insight. I see it's has more rectangular and square shapes, do you prefer that or should we keep the A frame design
Hi, would prefer the last version if possible (more rectangular/square shapes). Looks light and slim, I think I like it 🙂
Kind regards Britta
Good morning, we have already cut it and started working on the sanding today we stain it. I have attached pictures and videos of the progress so far
Good afternoon, I have attached pictures of the stand, I really hope you like it and it works better for you
Hi Neema, is it possible to have the angle of the vertical „backbone“ less steep? I am a bit worried that it will not fit on my desk if the angle is too steep… many thanks
Unfortunately it might mean making another one, by adjusting that steep we would mess up the 90 degree on the table tops.
The supporting bottom sits on a total of 36cm and the steep covers a total of 56cm, does that work?
Hi, not sure how to understand the measures you shared… I will send a picture of my desk to explain, what I mean in terms of space. Hope we‘ll find a way 🙂 Kind regards Britta
Hello, no problem, let me attach a sketch with those measurements it will hopefully explain better.
It's a side view sketch and front view sketch
Ok, many thanks!
Good morning, hope the sketch and measurements helped you determine if it would fit your desk
Hi Neema, yes, many thanks!! 🙏
Fantastic, we'll send it over to UCL first thing tomorrow morning, do have a lovely day
Many thanks, have a lovely day, too 🤗
Thank you for for your patience and working with us.
🎉🙏🙌
Hello Britta, sorry for the long silence we needed to confirm on a couple of errors to do with the color and durability of the stand. I would like to make a couple of additions to strengthen the table stand, though I have also seen most are made out of blockboard instead of cypress wood. Would you prefer going ahead and strengthening what we already have, or doing it again in blockboard
Hi Neema, how nice hearing from you, I hope you are doing well 🙂
As I am not aware of the advantages of blackboard VS cypress wood - what would you as expert recommend as the most stable and strong board? Would it be the blackboard? And if you would use it, would you adjust the color to dark brown as well?
Many thanks and kind regards
Britta
The blockboard seems to be the best way forward and I can make it the dark brown color as well.
I am doing well, thank you for asking. And again so sorry for the delay on your item.
I'm hoping working with blockboard works faster as well so before end of week it should be ready, I will keep you updated on progress as usual. Is that fine by you?
Hi Neema, many thanks for your prompt reply. Happy to progress with the blockboard 🙂 Looking forward to your updates, all fine for me. Best regards Britta
Fantastic, do have a lovely night. Thank you for your patience and understanding
Many thanks to you as well 🙂
Good morning, I have attached a couple of images, I have made adjustments on how far back the stand leans and the table parts are adjusted to fit on any part of the board, the design has therefore needed to change to a rectangular shape, let me know what you think of it. And for the finishing I will be painting it instead of staining it to the dark brown color.
Looking forward to your go ahead and feedback
Hi Neema,
many thanks for your update. I am okay with the rectangular shape, the picture looks great.
I think it would even be okay to only produce one instead of two horizontal boards, as their size looks equal. Is my assumption correct?
The original design had two horizontal boards (one for keyboard, the other for laptop), but I think the rectangular shape with horizontals in the same size would make a second one obsolete.
Painting instead of staining is perfectly fine for me as well.
many thanks and kind regards Britta
Fantastic. Thank you for the go ahead and feedback
☀️ 🙂
Good morning, I have attached our progress so far, today I'll be getting the paint
Amazing, looks really good!! 👍 😊
Good afternoon Britta, I'm done with the first coat of painting and attached a couple of pictures, let me know what you think of the color. I'll need to do another coat of painting and then finish it of with vanish. I need to slightly sand the board at the back since it's expanded slightly after painting it
Hi Neema, many thanks for sharing! The board looks great and stable - love it ❤️
Regarding the color - the darker the better, your approach sounds to me like it makes sense 🙂
Fantastic, I'm glad you like it, let me get it darker.
☀️ Many thanks, looking forward to it 🙂
Good afternoon,, sorry it's taken a while to do the finishing but I'm all done now.
The bottom stand is a tight fit giving a more upwards stand, we've fixed the 90degree issue, made it darker and it's not as smooth as the last giving it better grip. I hope you'll love it and it works well for you. I have attached a couple of pictures and videos, I'm having a phone challenge but you'll definitely get better pictures from Urban Change Lab. Looking forward to your response, do have a lovely day
Hi Neema, wonderful, it looks stable and beautiful 🙂 Can‘t wait to use it in my everyday work. Many thanks for going through the whole process and developing it to the optimum 🤩
Have a lovely day yourself as well. Kind regards Britta
The Finished Unique Piece – Individually Handmade
Reference: ON005922E-31636
Detailed Cost Breakdown
| Price | |
|---|---|
| Cost of material |
46.63
|
| Cost of labour |
16.08
|
| Cost of packaging |
4.02
|
| Cost of delivery to local operations manager |
5.63
|
| Subtotal – payout to artisan |
72.36
|
| Customer acquisition costs (advertising etc.) |
7.24
|
| Handling fee Urban Change Lab |
7.24
|
| Shipping costs from Kenya to Germany* |
50
|
| VAT (Germany)* |
16.5
|
| Total |
162.84
|
*Shipping costs and VAT vary depending on your location.
Each price shown is based on a unique, custom request. Final prices may vary depending on materials, effort, and delivery location.
