Bookend Singles **Bookish Product Review**

Bookend Singles

Rating:
Company: thatcompanycalledif
Product type: Bookend
RRP: £4.99
Available from: Waterstones | Amazon UK | eBay

thatcompanycalledif website description:
Made from just a single piece of thin, durable polypropylene, these inventive bookends use a novel 'living hinge' to solve a usually bulky bookend problem. They fold flat (great for retailers), they stand up straight (great for books) and, if we do say so ourselves, they look pretty fab anywhere around the home - which is great for everyone else. On the base, each has complimentary coloured grippy feet to keep them rock steady, the bookends can be easily wiped clean and, most importantly, they're very, very strong! Sold as singles, if you only want one, or why not mingle, mix and match your perfect bookend partner from a choice of 7 punchy colours in our singles dating lounge (or display box!). Perfectly at home in the lounge, kitchen, study or children's bedrooms and absolutely ideal everywhere in the office.

My first impression of the Bookend Singles, was that the range of colours is really good. I got the lime green bookend, and whereas green isn't usually a colour I'd choose, it's such a bright and vibrant colour, as are the other available colours, that it just stands out and looks really good! They're just really attractive-looking things.
The next thing I thought about though, was "how on Earth am I going to get this to stand up and support my books?" The singles, as you can see, come completely flat, and look (to begin with) particularly un-bookend-like. The idea is, that this saves space, makes them really easy to store etc, but they can fold out to be used when you need them. Wonderful! But I still wasn't convinced that it would stay up on its own. My worries were soon put to rest though - I got it out of the packaging, unfolded it, and put it down on the carpet, and voila! - it stood - not entirely straight, but it stood.
So far, so good.

My next worry was that, once on the shelf, and supporting my books, would it not slide away from the books every time I so much as touched them, leaving them to collapse in a big papery heap? I knew it had pads on the bottom, but they didn't feel particularly sticky to the touch - the opposite actually, they feel kind of smooth - so how was I to expect them to grip onto the also smooth wooden surface of the top of my bookcase?
This worry was another that was unfounded, though. Once on the shelf, with books sitting on the arm (is that what you'd call the longer bit? It's what I'm going with...), it was actually fairly impossible to shift along the shelf, even if I wanted it to move. I had to take the books away from it and pick it up off the surface, to move it further along. The grip is much more effective than I ever thought it would be, and it has held on every single surface I've tried it on so far!

You might think that, compared to some bookends that you can get, these (although brightly coloured), are fairly basic and plain - that maybe they wouldn't look as nice - but once they have your books leaning against them, they actually look pretty good.
They're not too obvious either, so you don't have to worry too much about them matching with all of your décor, or maybe distracting viewers from the beauty of the books they're supporting. They're just a really nice, simple (but curvy and elegant design), and they'll look great wherever you put them - be it in the bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen etc - they will fit in literally anywhere you want them to.

I think it should be pretty obvious that overall, I am really impressed by this product, and yes, just a little more than surprised at how good it works. I hadn't expected it to become a permanent feature of my book-displaying (especially as I recently bought a new bookcase), but it has stayed put - I actually really like it, and it works really well.
It's the perfect solution for book storage issues (perfect for bookaholics) - they mean that you can put your books on pretty much any available surface you want to, and they won't fall over! And at only £4.99 each, I don't think you'll be able to do much better than that! I love them!