We didn’t start out with the intention of running a crowdfunding campaign but to make something we couldn’t find.
Like everyone else, we were familiar with the big companies that were making cheap solutions out of fiberboard and thin metal wire and these solutions just weren’t good enough. Coming from a design background, we were also familiar with the higher end, more design sensitive solutions from mid-century European and American designers. But these systems are extremely expensive. Even if that isn’t a barrier to you, the purchasing process leaves a lot of room for improvement.
The shelves had to be beautiful. - This is number 1 for a reason. If the solution wasn’t going to be beautiful, it wasn’t solving the problem.
Quality. - Even some of the higher end examples in shelving systems lack the solidity and ease of installation that we felt was a basic need for something you invest money in purchasing and time in setting up.
Price. - We wanted to make our answer to modular shelving available to as many people as we could.
Originally we set out to design a cubic system in which each shelf was very nearly a perfect cube. There were some real aesthetic benefits to this approach such as visual balance and a strong example of figure and ground.
From the cubic system, we made some dimensional adjustments to improve the practical usefulness of the shelves and added multiple sizes to allow for adjusting to specific uses.
By the middle of 2016, we had the product developed and tested. Thanks to the low cost of prototyping in sheet metal, we didn’t need any money to get the product right.
What we did need money for was making more. We wanted to give them to our family and friends to try but we couldn’t have them pass one set around amongst themselves. So, we started a campaign to raise money on Kickstarter and were successful enough to make our first batch of real product.
Since then we’ve developed a few more products. A desk that elevates any work space by eliminating the need for legs, a corner shelf for making use of previously difficult spaces, and a bookend to keep things upright.
Our products are designed to make use of sheet metal for many reasons; one of which is customizability without having to retool a mold or change our material and manufacturing sources.
We’re ecstatic to be able to offer custom colors and sizes in a large range quantities to our customers.