Why we made the Sofa Sidekick

Eighteen months ago, I had a copper tumbler balanced on the armrest of a leather sofa. The tumbler tipped. The leather stained. I went looking for a product to solve this — surely it existed.

It existed, sort of. There were clamp-on cup holders that scratched the upholstery, plastic clips that looked like they came free with a cable subscription, and weighted trays that solved the cup problem but not the remote-or-phone problem. Nothing that I'd actually want sitting on my couch.

So we made one. The first prototype was made of sliced silicone we ordered as a sample from a manufacturer in Shenzhen. The second prototype had the cup well in the wrong place. The third prototype slid off leather. The seventh prototype, eighteen months in, gripped fabric and leather, held a 16-ounce can, and looked like furniture instead of a gadget.

That's the Sofa Sidekick. We're shipping it now. The next Sidekick — Bath, Desk, Car, Bed, or Travel — depends on what you tell us is the next moment of friction worth fixing.