This is the Luulia bookstand. Designed in the spirit of a certain Scandinavian household goods store, it was created by a librarian looking for a bookstand that was a.) simple, b.) resilient, and c.) cost-effective. Depending on your settings, it prints in less than two and a half hours, easily supports the weight of a 356-page hardcover book, and uses less than a dollar's worth of filament (at 3 cents per gram).

Basically, I made this as a cheaper alternative to similarly-sized bookstands available from a certain American library supplier. It was designed in Tinkercad (yeah, I know) and went through several revisions. Testing is ongoing, however, and I'll post updated designs if fixes are warranted.

Suggested Print Settings

• Nozzle: 0.4mm

• Layer Height: 0.2mm

• Presets: Structural

• In-Fill: 20–25%

• Supports: Organic

• Support Branch Density: 10–15%

I highly recommend increasing the in-fill to 20% at a minimum. You can put it higher, if you like! But if you go with the organic supports, make sure you decrease the branch density to the 10–15% range. Otherwise removing the supports is absolutely harrowing. You can also print the model on its side, but in testing I found it was more likely to break when removing the supports.

The number one cause of print failure has been the frame of the bookstand snapping because the nozzle hit it during printing. For this reason, I do not recommend printing it with any sort of speed preset. (Even balanced is iffy.) To improve survivability, you might consider slowing the print speed or printing the bookstand on its side, but as mentioned above this can lead to other issues.

Additional Questions

How long will this bookstand last?
I don't know. I printed the first one in the first week of May 2026, and it hasn't failed yet. Subsequent revisions of the design were all to improve printing. There are about two dozen of these in use at my library with none of them wearing out yet.

Why do I need this for hardcovers? Can't I just stand those up straight?
Standing up your hardcover books for display works great—if you're sure the shelf or table you're using is perfectly level. If it isn't, gravity eventually pulls on the bound pages enough to cause damage to the spine. At that point, you'll notice the hardcover start to lean. Putting it on a stand instead prevents this issue entirely, and it presents the book at an attractive angle. 

Can it hold hardcovers larger than standard dimensions or more than 356 pages?
Probably. I wouldn't try it with a cookbook or Alan Moore's Jerusalem, but books that are a little bigger or heavier than normal should be fine. This bookstand was designed with smaller books in mind, though, so caveat emptor.

Can it hold graphic novels or manga?
It can definitely hold manga that's been published in tankōbon format, and it can hold Western graphic novels with dimensions similar to what you might find in prose publishing. The issue is weight: since graphic novels are published with photo paper, it makes them much heavier by volume (no pun intended). Even some manga published in aizōbon format might be too heavy, such as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin or the Naoko Takeuchi Collection editions of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.

As for Western paperback trades (what most superhero comics are published in) the problem there is height. Gravity will eventually pull on the top and warp the spine, which could damage the binding. To avoid this, switch out what you're displaying frequently. Hardcovers in those dimensions won't have that problem, but they might be too tall and tip over.

The stand keeps falling over. What do I do?
Double check to make sure the surface underneath it is level and move the stand accordingly, especially if the stand is falling to the side. If it's falling so the front is resting on the shelf or table the stand is sitting on, then the book you're displaying is probably too wide or too heavy. If the stand is falling over backwards, the book you're trying to display is probably too tall and too heavy, or else the stand itself is broken and you just haven't noticed it yet.

Will you design bookstands for larger sizes?
Maybe, though my goal is to make sure the finished product is cost-effective. If I can't make a larger or heavy-duty bookstand that's cheaper than a wire one from Demco, then it's not worth printing it.

Are you open to feedback and/or revisions?
Yes! I'm just a librarian, not in any respect an engineer. Anyone who has suggestions on improving the design without compromising the core concepts (simple, resilient, cost-effective), and especially anyone who can recommend better printer settings to reduce the risk of it breaking during or after printing, is welcome to leave a comment or get in touch with me directly.

I thought this would be perfect for [insert project here], but it actually sucks!
No refunds.