Ballarat's NJW Designs created the sets for productions like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the Australian Ballet, and several Disney shows, and had more than 40 orders in the pipeline for backdrops, props, and other gear when the coronavirus struck.

Owner Nathan Weyers said the mood was depressing at their Wendouree workshop - he'd just hired extra workers for the new productions.

READ MORE: NJW Designs produces the sets for major theatre shows in Ballarat

After a week of brainstorming, he decided to use their library of equipment, including CNC machines, and staff of carpenters, painters, and finishers, to help the community out and hold onto his workers.

"We thought what can we do - well, fast assembly furniture is what we do anyway, just on a grander scale," he said.

"Our boxes (of theatre sets and stage furniture) are generally in containers, but now they fit in your boot."

Mr Weyers and his team guessed a lot of people would be working from home without proper office equipment, like desks, and school students might be studying from home as well.

They began production of laptop stands and desks which can be neatly packed away and stored under the bed when not in use, which is important for when people do return to the office or students go back to school.

The range of products is growing, with a wine rack and puzzle table on the cards, as well as wooden toys for children like carpet skittles and a mini golf set.

"It needs to be quick assembly and quickly put together for us to ship, and can put up and taken down quickly," Mr Weyers said.

Another product is plastic sneeze guards for retailers and coffee shops, an item that may become a common sight in the future.

"We started looking at some for hair salons to go between chairs, so they're not obtrusive," Mr Weyers said.

To help out the arts community, NJW is donating $10 from every sale to charity - the money will be split between the Ballarat Arts Foundation, the Actors Benevolence Fund, which also supports crew members, and Entertainment Assist, supporting mental health.

"The entertainment industry is so lovely, they're our friends, they would have seen we're in trouble, so they've all bought a laptop stand - I thought thanks, but how can I help?" Mr Weyers said.

Having cleared the decks for the foreseeable future however, NJW Designs has also been commissioned for more interesting projects.

Areion Equestrian, based in Ballarat, is working on a prototype for a safer horse float - but before it can proceed to testing, it will need a crash test dummy.

Director Tom Hotchkin said he needed a full-size rubber horse, with skeleton, to move from computer simulations to the real thing.

"My family's been into horses my entire life, my sister says it's quite poor how badly they're designed in a car accident," he explained.

"We thought we could fix that, so we're developing the world's first crash-tested horse float, designed to protect the horse in a car accident."

While the prototyping was going well, he was struggling to find a company that would be able to fabricate a crash test dummy.

"No one builds fake horses to the mass of a horse, otherwise it'd be a pain," he said.

"It's having something that's the size and shape of a horse, and being made of rubber, it's a bit squishier."

He approached NJW Designs for help - Mr Weyers said it was an interesting challenge.

"I'm keen for the horse, that's so different to what we did," he said enthusiastically.

"We had to research rubber and density to find out how much you'd need to calculate the weight of the horse, and it had to be in the right places as well, like the belly versus thighs.

"We have two tonnes of rubber in the workshop, we're going to put it on the CNC and start the process."

He added it was good to help support other Ballarat innovators.

"I think that's really cool," he said.

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