Our philosophy that art has the power to make you feel good means that we try to reach as many people as we can to help boost their wellbeing. While we are closed to the public due to government advice, we're sharing loads of ways to stay creative at home.

"Art for Normals" blogs are aimed at everyone. We want you all to feel good with a bit of art. No artistic knowledge or, dare we say it, talent required!

How many times have you dropped your phone on your face when you're watching a video when you probably should be sleeping? Thought so. Create your own origami phone stand that you can prop on a bedside table or other flat surface so you can enjoy all your videos hazard- and hands-free!

Equipment needed:

  • A square piece of paper (cut from A5 paper, roughly 14x14cm)

You could also make a larger stand for a tablet using a squared off piece of A4 paper.


1. Fold your square piece of paper in half. Unfold, and then fold in half the other way.

2. Then, take two adjacent corners and fold them into the middle, meeting the fold line down the centre. Repeat this step on the opposite side so both corners meet in the middle.

3. Holding your rectangle horizontally, diagonally fold the top right corner down so the top corner meets the bottom middle of the paper. Unfold, and diagonally fold the bottom right corner up so the bottom corner meets the top middle of the paper. Repeat this on the left side.

4. Unfold, and hold the paper vertically. This part gets a little more fiddly - do watch the video to help you. Hold the paper by the top corner with one hand and with the other, pinch together the middle fold so that the two top corners meet. Repeat this step on the other side.

5. Fiddlier still, secure your phone stand by folding one of the small triangle shapes into the fold of the other side. This will prevent your phone stand from unfolding itself.

6. Turn the phone stand over so the hollow side faces the table. Push the fold that runs through the centre of the shape down slightly, so it bends in the middle and allows all the edges to touch the table. Your phone will sit horizontally in the crease.

All done! Remember, you can use a larger piece of paper if you want to make a tablet stand - or if you want to stand your phone up vertically.

origami phone stand