A screen-free ritual companion

The phone
is the problem.
We built the
alternative.

Rast is a small handcrafted object that helps people arrive — calm, focused, and present. No app. No subscription. No notifications.

Get in touch
Launching 2026. No spam - just one email when we're ready.

Thank you. We'll let you know.

Rast in use
The problem

Millions downloaded
the apps.
Most stopped.

5 min
of daily practice produces measurable reductions in anxiety and stress within 30 days — Dr. Richard Davidson, University of Wisconsin

Not because the content was wrong. Because the phone itself is the problem.

Research from the University of Texas shows that the mere presence of your phone reduces cognitive capacity — even face-down, even silent.

Opening a meditation app means unlocking your phone. Which means seeing a notification. Which means the moment is already gone.

Nobody has solved this. Until now.

2 weeks
Most people stop using meditation apps within two weeks of downloading them
Journal of Medical Internet Research
10%
Reduction in cognitive capacity from having your phone on the desk — even face-down, even silent
University of Texas, 2017
5 min
A single brief mindfulness session measurably reduces cortisol and improves sustained attention
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Rast device
What it is

A small handcrafted object.
Fully offline.
Completely yours.

Rast opens like a book. Inside: a milled terrazzo block and a leather envelope holding a small collection of cards.

You choose a card, place it in the center dock, and a gentle audio session begins. When you're done, you remove the card. The audio fades. You close it.

No screen. No login. No cloud. The device works independently, forever.

Soft LED feedback
Volume knob
Headphone jack
USB-C charging
20 sessions per charge

Rast is for the
moments between things.

07:15
Before the laptop opens. Shine card. Three minutes. Then the day begins.
14:50
Before a difficult meeting. Focus card. Two minutes in an empty room. Then you walk in.
18:30
Transition from work to family. Recovery card. Four minutes in the car. Then the door opens.
22:30
Too tired to read. Good Night card. Five minutes. Sleep comes easier than with a screen.
The cards

Each card is
a state of mind.

Sessions adapt slowly over time — becoming quieter, simpler, more familiar as you return to them. Like a path you've walked many times.

shine
rising
good night
settling
recovery
settling
let go
settling
focus
centered
clarity
centered
ground
centered
gong
tool
"If you do it just five minutes a day for thirty days, you will see significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and stress."
Dr. Richard Davidson · Center for Healthy Minds · University of Wisconsin
The science

Five minutes a day.
Proven to matter.

Rast sessions are never longer than five minutes unless you choose otherwise. Every session is enough to count.

As Dr. Davidson's research shows — states repeated over time become traits. The ritual gets easier. The calm becomes your baseline. Rast getting quieter over months mirrors exactly what's happening in your brain.

The team

We've built hardware
people love before.

Rast is built by a small team with deep experience in hardware product design, business, and software — from Y Combinator-backed startups to award-winning consumer devices.

We know how to take a product from prototype to living rooms. Rast is the most personal thing we've ever built.

Felix Christmann
Design & Product
Industrial designer with 4× Red Dot Award wins. Founded a Y Combinator-backed hardware company acquired by ISE/Gira. Successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Dr. Nikolas Schöll
Science & Content
Behavioral scientist and meditation facilitator. PhD Economist, trained at LSE, Pompeu Fabra, and TU Dresden. University lecturer. Grounds Rast's sessions in real practice and real evidence.
Shantanu Choudhary
Software Development
Software developer building the Rast firmware and session engine — the invisible intelligence behind every card interaction.
Where we are

Working prototype.
User testing now.

We have a working prototype with real cards, real voices, and real sessions. Currently in user testing in Berlin.

Kickstarter launch planned for late 2026. Press and investor enquiries welcome now.

Working prototypeFour cards, real voice sessions, NFC hardware
User testingBerlin, ongoing street and coworking interviews
Industrial designDesign for manufacturing
Audio productionVoice recording in progress
Kickstarter launchPlanned late 2026

Press. Investors.
Curious humans.

We're at an early stage and selectively sharing what we're building with people who get it. If that's you — write to us.

Thank you. We'll be in touch.