Adjustable stand makes your iPad Pro even more pro

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ElevationLab created DraftTable because a steady drawing hands needs a steady stand for the iPad Pro.
ElevationLab created DraftTable because a steady drawing hands needs a steady stand for the iPad Pro.
Photo: ElevationLab

Frank Lloyd Wright didn’t create innovative home designs by drawing from his couch. He sat at a drafting table, its surface supporting his paper at the angle of his choosing.

So what would he do with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil? He might try the new DraftTable by Portland, Oregon-based Elevation Lab.

The stand adjusts like a drafting table, allowing the digital creative, Apple Pencil in hand, to draw at any angle without worry the stand will tip. It comes with an armrest that allows a user to cantilever their arm to draw in comfort. To complete the setup, DraftTable, comes with a pencil stand that suction-locks to whatever desk you might use.

DraftTable
DraftTable stays put at any angle.
Photo: ElevationLab

“If you watch people draw on the iPad, like in Apple’s promo videos, they often hold it up at an angle with one hand and draw with the other,” ElevationLab founder Casey Hopkins told Cult of Mac. “We wanted something better, designed from the ground up for working on iPad Pro, so you can use it to its full potential.”

There are a variety of cases and stands for iPads, but Hopkins argues few offer constant stability necessary for prolonged drawing and design projects.

ElevationLab started out as an industrial design firm that helped companies make better products, but in 2011, it began its own product line, much of it dedicated to Apple devices. Its first product, an iPhone dock, was the first Kickstarter project to break the $1 million mark.

The company continues to make iPhone docks, including one in jet-black to match the jet-black iPhone 7 but also makes NightStand, a charging station for Apple Watch that can be found in Apple Stores around the world. Another item, The Anchor, is an adhesive double hook that attaches to the bottom of a desk for headphone storage.

ElevationLab’s DraftTable iPad stand has a steel and composite polymer construction and spring-loaded hinges that lock open and closed for each adjusted angle. With the artist’s hand in motion, the stand stays put thanks to high-friction skids located in the areas of the stand that meet the surface of the desk.

The DraftTable collapses for easy carry and fits all size iPads, from the 12.9-inch Pro to an iPad mini.

DraftTable
Your iPad Pro with the right app is like a Wacom Cintiq digital input for your desktop Mac.
Photo: ElevationLab

Hopkins said creatives like the DraftTable because they can use an iPad and the AstroPad software and pair it with a Mac to create a Wacom Cintiq-like digital input.

ElevationLab sells DraftTable for $99 on the company website and will start shipping them in a couple of weeks. If the price seems steep, the company makes its case for the stand’s value with video on the website that shows artists seemingly working with ease and comfort.

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