I started Formi at 3am.
I was feeding my newborn on the sofa for the hundredth time that week, and I kept thinking the same thing: how has no one made anything for this?
There's a product for every part of having a baby. The cot. The pram. The monitor. The fourteen kinds of muslin. All of it thought through, beautifully.
And then there's the bit where you actually sit and feed, the most repetitive, most physical, least glamorous hours of the whole thing. There are chairs and pillows and pumps, but nothing built around the one thing that takes the strain: your posture.
I'd spent nearly 20 years around the best-designed workplaces in the world. The right chair. The right desk. Every detail considered, because someone worked out that how you sit all day actually matters.
So I designed the products I needed - and couldn’t find. Welcome to Formi.
I started Formi at 3am.
I was feeding my newborn on the sofa for the hundredth time that week, and I kept thinking the same thing: how has no one made anything for this?
There's a product for every part of having a baby. The cot. The pram. The monitor. The fourteen kinds of muslin. All of it thought through, beautifully.
And then there's the bit where you actually sit and feed, the most repetitive, most physical, least glamorous hours of the whole thing. There are chairs and pillows and pumps, but nothing built around the one thing that takes the strain: your posture.
I'd spent nearly 20 years around the best-designed workplaces in the world. The right chair. The right desk. Every detail considered, because someone worked out that how you sit all day actually matters.
So I designed the products I needed - and couldn’t find. Welcome to Formi.
Parents spend around 1,800 hours feeding in the first year. That's a full-time job.
If you started any other job that size, someone would set up your chair, your desk, your space, because they'd worked out it matters over that many hours.
For this one, you get a sofa and a "good luck."
That's the gap Formi is built around. Not a nice-to-have. The most-used hours of your day, finally designed for.
Parents spend around 1,800 hours feeding in the first year. That's a full-time job.
If you started any other job that size, someone would set up your chair, your desk, your space, because they'd worked out it matters over that many hours.
For this one, you get a sofa and a "good luck."
That's the gap Formi is built around. Not a nice-to-have. The most-used hours of your day, finally designed for.
"You're told to enjoy every moment. Nobody mentions that a lot of those moments are spent at 3am, in a chair that was never meant for this, watching the clock.
I didn't want to be told to slow down and savour it. I wanted a properly designed object, the kind I'd spent twenty years being surrounded by everywhere except here."
— Lana Havenhand, Founder
Working out what those hours actually needed took longer than I'd like to admit.
We talked to parents, a lot of parents.
And we brought in people who design for a living: Vert Design shaped the footstool's form and put it through round after round of prototyping, and Soft Serve Studio developed it into the finished object, the materials, the foam, the colours, the details you actually touch.
Along the way, physiotherapists and lactation consultants pressure-tested every angle and every curve.
We broke prototypes and built them again. We got it wrong, then less wrong, then right.
The result is the Formi Footstool. It lifts your feet, brings your knees a little higher, and lets you settle into a position you don't have to keep correcting, in a piece you'll actually want to leave out in your living room.
Every curve, every finish, every material was argued over. Not for the story. Because it had to be right.
Working out what those hours actually needed took longer than I'd like to admit.
We talked to parents, a lot of parents.
And we brought in people who design for a living: Vert Design shaped the footstool's form and put it through round after round of prototyping, and Soft Serve Studio developed it into the finished object, the materials, the foam, the colours, the details you actually touch.
Along the way, physiotherapists and lactation consultants pressure-tested every angle and every curve.
We broke prototypes and built them again. We got it wrong, then less wrong, then right.
The result is the Formi Footstool. It lifts your feet, brings your knees a little higher, and lets you settle into a position you don't have to keep correcting, in a piece you'll actually want to leave out in your living room.
Every curve, every finish, every material was argued over. Not for the story. Because it had to be right.
“We wanted Formi to feel like a natural part of the home and of everyday life. A piece that offers comfort and ease when you need it and becomes part of the space when not.”
Kaine Whiteway, Soft Serve Studio
"The design is soft, elegant and contemporary, friendly for both parent and baby, yet visually aimed at parents. A fresh twist on the typical baby product, it integrates seamlessly into the home. Every decision was made with empathy for new parents, who often have only one hand free and countless tasks, ensuring the product feels intuitive and supportive in real-life use."
- Charlie Payne, Vert Design
The name came from our parent interviews. The same thing, over and over: in the early days, when you're giving everything to someone very small, you start wanting something, anything, that's just for you.
Not for the baby. For me.
We liked that it stays quiet about it. Formi. For me. You'd only catch it if someone told you. Or if you already felt it.
The name came from our parent interviews. The same thing, over and over: in the early days, when you're giving everything to someone very small, you start wanting something, anything, that's just for you.
Not for the baby. For me.
We liked that it stays quiet about it. Formi. For me. You'd only catch it if someone told you. Or if you already felt it.
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