Lego Minifigures can be hacked to create holders for iPhone charging cables, Sugru users have discovered.

The new use for the figures was discovered by Andreas, a Sugru customer in Germany, who found that the figures' hands were exactly the right size to grip a range of cables.

By combining the figures with Sugru - a mouldable synthetic rubber that can be used to repair and customise objects - Andreas invented a new way of tidying cables on his desk.

"Since I discovered this by accident it's my way of organising things around my desk," said Andreas.

Andreas uploaded his discovery to Sugru's online gallery last month and since then users around the world have adopted the idea, according to Sugru founder Jane ni Dhulchaointigh.

"Since we shared the project on Twitter, we’ve been getting more and more pics of people copying it," she said. "It’s so cool to see all the different characters and locations."

She added: "In the office we all have Lego Minifigures holding our cables now, so that they don’t keep slipping down under the desk. They seem to be standing to attention and have a new purpose in life."

The cable holder is the latest product hack created with Sugru. Speaking at Dezeen's Designed in Hackney event in London two years ago, ni Dhulchaointigh explained how members of the British fencing team used the product to customise their foils; and showed how a father created a drop-proof digital camera for his three-year-old child.

"It's designed to help people repair almost anything and it sticks to almost anything," she said at the event, describing how she invented the product while studying at the Royal College of Art in London.

"I saw it as a space-age rubber that would enable the whole world to adapt, modify and repair things," she said, explaining her belief that Sugru could help consumers create "a new generation of products".