It was COVID, and people who were accustomed to offices were staying home. “I was sitting in my dining room in New York City, and I know I was lucky to have a dining room,” Jane says. “I was sitting in my grandmother’s dining room chair at my grandmother’s dining room table, on calls all day, and I was so uncomfortable. I really wanted an Aeron chair, but where would I put it when I wanted my dining room back?

“I started asking other people what they were doing, looking around, taking photos. One colleague--this was a partner-level guy--was sitting on the floor with his laptop on his lap and his back against the wall. I saw people using lawn chairs, really making do however they could.”

The circumstances of COVID presented the problem as acute, but people working and living in compact spaces is an ongoing need. Data showing that average newly built apartments have been shrinking for a decade confirmed that the challenge deserved a response. As Brian says, “People don’t shrink as space shrinks.” People deserve tools to better align their spaces with the lives they want to live.