A pleasant memory of our family home during high school in a small town on the plains of Kansas was our big wooden front porch swing. But, of course, enjoying the swing was dependent on the time of year and the weather.

The consistently predictable perfect weather of Medellin made this choice of business an obvious winner. Nearly every house has a porch or patio. Yet, I feel like this idea is still ahead of its time. Very few people knew what a porch swing was.

I bought a band saw, a table-top belt sander, several other woodworking hand tools and got busy. Over the next few months, I crafted six porch swings, including a single-wide for my neighbors’ special needs child. While the swings on my front porch stirred up curiosity in my condominium community, the only swings I “sold” were bartered for a glass table dining set.

The kinetic relaxation of the porch swing inspired me to build a hanging bed as well. Researching rocking and swaying movement therapies convinced me to offer hanging beds to enhance blood flow, emotional health, and micro muscle tension that can provide positive therapeutic results for people confined to the beds.

Mom spent several of her final years confined to a bed. I wonder how a hanging bed would have made a difference in her quality of life.

I haven’t done any studies on myself except that I love waking up every morning in my hanging bed with gentle swaying movements reminiscent of being a baby again.

I’ve been thinking and sketching designs for kinetic workstations to improve the experience of working at a desk for extended periods.