If you’ve followed Twelve South for a while, you’ve heard some of this before: We create Apple-centric products because *we* need them and will use them. And while it sounds pretty simple to do that, one magazine reporter got to the bottom of our process last year, Play-doh models and all.

Here’s more from a Charleston Magazine piece on the co-founders of Twelve South, Leigh Ann and Andrew Green:

“…just how do these designers turn their brainstorming brilliance into innovative tech accessories? Surprisingly enough, not on a computer. Their ideas come to fruition through good old-fashioned craftsmanship. For each viable concept, the Greens build a prototype by “any means necessary”—straws, Play Doh, chopsticks, you name it—to visualize the concept. (They fashioned an origami paper version of the Compass iPad stand using a cut-up manila envelope and a brad.)”

And about whether we are really only twelve people? Well, yes, really. When the article was written we were only eight:

“The model then gets passed around the eight-person office for feedback and tweaked as needed. “We react to touching, feeling, and seeing it in the space, something you can’t get on a CAD program,” says Andrew, who thinks their lack of formal design training has not held them back. “The final product has to be sleek, simplistic, and beautiful. If it isn’t beautiful, it’s not the solution that we want.” “

Read all about it in Charleston Magazine.