The inspiration for Grandstand came from the realisation that we wanted music stands to feel as considered, elegant and thoughtfully designed as the instrument. That’s what Grandstand does. Designed by musicians, for musicians. For us, music is more than just playing, it is a lifestyle. No longer confined to the corners of practice rooms or hidden away in cupboards, Grandstand emerges as a work of art in its own right—a centrepiece that demands attention and appreciation.
Design Timeline
The first direction featured a patented leg folding mechanism that allowed the legs to stow flat and parallel and then rotate ~270 degrees to form a base. While the mechanism was effective we weren’t satisfied with the overall stability of this direction and eventually moved on.
We actually took inspiration from a side prototype made during the development of Wee Stand for the next direction, which was less focused on portability and more interested in material exploration. We knew that flexibility and versatility were essential to providing the ultimate home music stand experience. Thus the development of the Quick Click mechanism and the Secure Clips began. These proved very mechanically exciting challenges and required dozens of iterations and rounds of prototyping to get just right.
Manufacturing
Once we had a design in hand we began the search for the best manufacturing partners we could find. Initially we were determined to find a partner for manufacturing the wood components in the UK; however, this proved futile as we encountered issues with finding vendors that satisfied our volume of production and strict quality requirements. In the end we found an excellent wood vendor and machinist partner in China who far exceeded our quality and sourcing expectations.
The final stretch was working closely with our partners to refine each individual part to match our design and functionality requirements. This has proved to be the most time consuming part of the process. With parts like the Quick Click mechanism small, iterative refinements in the tooling are necessary to ensure the mechanism is reliable, durable, and functional. Each component has to go through various iterations to meet our standards, which can introduce new design challenges!
Beyond the office:
As our first product developed post-COVID restriction in China we were able to make a trip in February to visit our manufacturing partners. This allowed us to evaluate our processes and quickly make decisions to make Grandstand even better. Outside of this we brought Grandstand prototypes to the NAMM tradeshow and made numerous videos in preparation for our Kickstarter launch and beyond.
Design Awards:
At the end of June 2023, Noisy Clan’s COO Joe, and Lead Design Engineer Jaren, had the privilege of attending the Scottish Design Awards, as Grandstand had been nominated for the Product Design category.
After a three course meal, and many, many other categories and nominees announced, winners collecting prizes, and the constant buzz of applauding, Noisy Clan’s category was called. And with much anticipation, apprehension (and maybe one too many proseccos) our name was announced … we had won GOLD!
The Future of Design at Noisy Clan:
The journey has only just begun for Noisy Clan and the Grandstand family. We have been busy designing other aesthetically pleasing products that will be heading your way this May. So watch this space for Levitate ... our architectural wall mount. You heard it here first!
So hopefully this has given you a little insight into how Grandstand came about. And how an idea becomes reality … through trial and tribulation! You can check out our other blog post about how we managed to get 600 wonderful musicians to back our Grandstand and come along on our 2 year design journey!
