Prop
Styling: Terry Lewis
For all the appeal of a glossy, touch-screen tablet, typing on
its virtual, click-free keys can be dissatisfying. James Stumpf has an
answer: the Levitatr keyboard. Sporting keys that recede into the
product’s body when not in use, the travel-ready Levitatr stands apart
from other portable keyboards. “I tried to consider the look of the
Apple products it would pair with,” Stumpf says. The result is a
polycarbonate and aluminum rectangle with an iPad-cradling stand and
retractable, LED-backlit keys. Getting the keys to lower so they were
exactly flush with the body of the keyboard was no easy feat, Stumpf
says, but he constructed each in the shape of a stout T, which allows
them to lower just far enough to create a perfectly smooth surface. ($99,
store.levitatr.com)
A version of this article appears in the
February 2012 issue of
Fast Company.
