Minds behind Furby launching pop-up desk on Kickstarter

Chicago inventors have built a portable workspace to rival dragging a laptop to bed.

The Edge portable, foldable desk includes a kneeling chair that expands and collapses in 10 seconds. It was designed for millennials who are more likely to work and live in small spaces like shared offices and dorm rooms, said Marc Rosenberg. He’s the former marketing chief of Furby creator Tiger Electronics and toy company Hasbro and one of four developers of the project.

The desk weighs about 25 pounds and also converts to an easel. It hit Kickstarter on March 15 at a pledge amount of $349.

Accessories, including holders for smartphones, snacks and drinks, will be available to snap along the edge — get it? — to maintain the 20-by-30-inch desktop work space.

The desk has been the subject of demonstrations to more than 500 people, from a beefy football player to petite art student, at four shared office spaces and eight college campuses across the country, Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg’s partners are brothers Steve and Jeff Rehkemper, both of Rehkemper Invention & Design of Chicago, and Jeff Jones, who led development of the original Furby for Tiger Electronics, based in Vernon Hills, Ill.

The campaign wants to raise $165,000 for production. The founding team has already invested about $500,000 in the project, Rosenberg said.

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Cheryl V. Jackson is a freelance writer.

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