The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2026
Studio Gorm's Stop redesigns the doorstop as a circular, hangable wedge
Studio Gorm's Stop doorstop is molded from recycled shoe-sole grind, needs no packaging, and hangs from a rope made of recycled bottles when idle.
Studio Gorm · Pidat
What it had to solve
The wedge has stopped doors for centuries and is so ubiquitous that its interaction, storage and materials go unexamined. Studio Gorm — designers John and Wonhee Arndt — set out to make a doorstop that is easier to interact with, has a built-in way to store itself, and looks better.
How it works
The wedge has stopped doors for centuries in one material or another, and it is so ubiquitous that nobody thinks about it. Studio Gorm — industrial designers John and Wonhee Arndt — decided the doorstop could be improved in three ways at once: easier to interact with, with a built-in way to store it, and better looking.
Their Stop doorstop is made in Portugal at a shoe-sole factory, from rubber mixed with RCS-certified post-industrial recycled shoe-sole grind. A rope of GRS-certified polyester made from upcycled post-consumer plastic bottles lets it hang on a door when idle, all parts come apart for recycling, and there is no label or packaging headed to landfill — the product's information is printed on a reusable cotton pouch.
The Finnish brand Pidat produces Stop, and Core77 covered the object in September 2026 as a reminder that the UX of everyday objects can always be improved — one small product that works on interaction, storage and materials at once.
Why it lands
- Starting from an object everyone owns and ignores means the design creates visible value without inventing a new category.
- Designing the storage moment — the rope that hangs it out of the way — fixes the interaction that loose wedges get wrong.
- Closed-loop materials and packaging-free delivery make circularity a feature of a commodity object, not a premium add-on.
What it did
Pidat put Stop into production in multiple colors, and Core77 covered the object in September 2026 as proof that the UX of everyday objects can always be improved — an interaction fix, a storage fix and a materials fix packed into one small product.
What you can take
A ubiquitous object nobody questions is a brief, not a finished answer — improving interaction and storage, closing the materials loop, and removing packaging can each be the idea.
Since then
Pidat put Stop into production, listing it in four colors and noting that the doorstop can wedge from any side; the product page showed shipping initially to Finland and Germany as the brand worked through EU packaging rules. Core77's September 2026 feature framed the small object as evidence that ubiquitous products reward redesign, with the RCS and GRS certifications making its circular claims auditable.
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