Why I started Novu

I used to end most evenings the same way. Sitting on the sofa, tv on in the background, phone in my hand. Scrolling through nothing in particular — Instagram, TikTok, back to Instagram. Not really watching the tv. Not really reading anything. Just... there.

And then at some point I'd put my phone down and realise that hours had passed.

That feeling — not quite guilt, more like a quiet waste — kept coming back. Not because I thought I should be doing something more productive. I didn't want to be productive. I was tired. I just wanted to actually rest.

Two screens at once

What bothered me most wasn't the scrolling itself. It was the combination. The tv on in one corner of my attention, my phone filling whatever was left. Neither one getting my full attention. Neither one giving me anything back.

It's a strange kind of exhaustion — spending an evening consuming things without taking anything in.

I started noticing it more and more. In myself, and in people around me. The default end-of-day routine had quietly become: sit down, pick up phone, look up two hours later.

The thing about using your hands

At some point I tried something different. I started doing things with my hands in the evenings — small things, nothing ambitious. And I noticed almost immediately that it changed the texture of the whole night.

When your hands are busy, your brain settles. You can't scroll when you're holding a brush. You stop half-watching the tv and actually watch it, or you stop watching it altogether and just focus on what you're making. The mental noise from the day — the things you've been half-thinking about — quiets down, because your attention has somewhere specific to go.

It's not about being creative or talented. It's about having something in your hands that isn't a phone.

Why I started Novu

I wanted to make that shift as easy as possible for people.

Not a lecture about screen time. Not a "digital detox" programme. Just a kit — everything you need to spend a few hours making something, on the sofa, without any friction. Open the box and begin.

That's what Novu is. A simple alternative to the default. Something physical, something calm, something that leaves you feeling like your evening actually happened.

We started with paint by numbers because it's genuinely accessible — you don't need experience, you don't need to be good at art, and the result is something you might actually want to hang on your wall. But the idea behind it is bigger than any single kit: give people something real to do with their evenings.

It won't change your life

I want to be honest about what Novu is and isn't.

It's not a wellness brand. It's not going to fix your relationship with your phone or transform your evenings overnight. It's just a better way to spend a few hours — one that leaves you feeling less flat than a night of scrolling usually does.

That's enough. That's what it's for.

If you've had that same feeling — the hours gone, the vague sense of waste — it might be worth trying something different tonight.

Your phone can wait.