One of the types of tablet, ereader, or smartphone accessory that tends to become the focus of endless experimentation, trial and error, and questing for further improvement – at least for me – is stands. The perfect balance of portability, stability, viewing angle, is the kind of topic that tech geeks and OCD sufferers of all kinds – like me – can spend hours on. And now a new Kickstarter project, Flio, has come along that could offer the answer to at least some of my prayers.

Flio, launched by Vlad Butucariu of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, promises to be “a collapsible laptop stand that offers an ergonomic viewing height and keeps an angle for easy typing anywhere you go.” The designer has clearly had problems with laptops before. “The inconvenience is that a laptop’s screen is really low compared to our eye-level, and after a while of concentrating on work, back pain appears,” he writes. “Flio provides the conditions for a proper sitting position, easy typing and at the same time it is lightweight and collapsible to carry and use in any environments you need.”

It also, incidentally, comes in a very attractive wooden design, claiming to be “the slimmest wooden laptop stand ever made,” with two elevation levels, a range of wooden finishes from bamboo to eucalyptus, and only 8mm (0.31″) thick and 380g (0.84lb). It’s obviously made to be sturdy enough to support a full laptop, but the design looks capable, at least in principle, of holding tablets down to 7″ size as well. But to be on the safe side, and for smartphone users, the designer is also offering Flio Mini, a companion smartphone stand available for some of the pledge tiers.

The current wave of adoption for Chromebooks in education suggests one way in which the Flio could be very useful – providing a comfortable reading as well as working platform for all those Chromebooks finding their way into schools and studies. In any case, for students or otherwise, the Flio is targeting €19,000 ($23,643), with €4,170 ($5190) already pledged and 19 days to go until its cutoff date of Sunday, December 7th. If you like its sleek wood-grained good looks, head on over to Kickstarter and pledge for your Flio.

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