i love both the form and function of the latest offering from my favourite premium tech accessories brand native union, which launches on kickstarter today.

the eclipse is a 3-port usb hub promising unrivalled cable management to tackle the daily eyesore of messy, tangled-up cables in your home or workspace – a common frustration in my tiny home office! the sleek compact design of the round eclipse unit, available in marine/cherry or taupe/walnut, would look right at home on my (aspiringly) minimal desk, combining a clean scandinavian aesthetic with a practical functionality that meets customer demand for a ‘right-now’ solution to the cable-chaos of the current era.

“we’ve been waiting for wireless charging to become the norm, but the reality is that we continue to rely on cables every day to charge our tech,” says native union’s head of design fabien nauroy. “we ran a survey asking what our customers biggest charging frustrations were. several thousand people told us that cable mess was number one, so we got to work designing the ultimate solution, continues ceo & co-founder, igor duc.

the eclipse allows you to plug in any three of your usb cables (up to 8 feet long) and wind them into its individual, precision-engineered channels, so there’s no risk of tangling or overlapping. the cable management system keeps up to a total of 24 feet of cables neat and easy to access, so you can unwind to your desired length and get comfortable as you recharge.

the capacitive sensor allows you to activate the device with a single touch, so that the lid slowly rises to allow access to your cables, while emitting a subtle halo of light so you don’t have to fumble around for your cable in the dark. tap it once more, and it gradually lowers as the halo fades away.

unlike many usb hubs, eclipse uses smart ic technology to ensure that your devices are always charging at their maximum speed and uses an advanced transformer to guarantee safe currents that won’t damage your devices’ batteries in the long term. the unit also keeps your cables stored handily away when not in use – meaning no more rifling though drawers trying to remember where you tidied that much-needed cable away to. seriously, i swear mine move in the night!

the eclipse campaign launches on kickstarter today, with an early-bird price of $49 (rrp $79). estimated shipping in april 2017.