Hasta La Ideas

This looks like a simple, slightly odd armchair. But the amount of innovation it represents is actually staggering.

In 2020 Sawyer and Andrew Bates, two brothers from Canada with no background in furniture design, cobbled together a plywood workstation designed to mate with Ikea’s popular POÄNG chair. “We love the sitting position of the POÄNG,” they write, “and thought it would make a phenomenal workstation for a laptop.”

It may not look like much, but their Lap Desk was popular with consumers; the Batemans sold thousands of units.

They then pushed things further: What about other accessories that could connect to an armchair? They tackled that problem by designing their own chair, the Envy Armchair.

From there they created an extensive ecosystem of plug-in accessories that slot into the dogholes. There is a full desk, which pivots out of the way:

A half desk:

A split desk:

A mousepad:

A height-adjustable headrest:

A cupholder:

A controller caddy:

A microphone mount:

A laptop riser:

A headphone hook:

A coat hook:

They’ve also designed a companion Ottoman. Which can be fitted with a laptop holder:

And a monitor mount.

In short, the Bateman brothers have created a modular gaming station or workstation for those who prefer not to sit at a desk. It’s essentially a new category of furniture, and today the brothers run their company, Bateman Labs, to manufacture it all.

My hat’s off.