“The Metrolog Ruler was born from a place of personal need. I measure small-ish things every single day, and my office is littered with tape measures, cutting mats, T-squares, calipers, and, yes, other rulers. But I didn’t have a ruler that was my ruler — one that was a delight to use and handsome to boot. So that’s what we set out to make.” - Hunter Craighill, Founder
“We didn’t start with the intention of designing a ruler with a caliper function. Our design process started with a fixed ruler concept and as this developed, it seemed like we needed to push things further.” - Kevin Chee, Design Manager
“After a couple weeks of design iteration, Kevin proposed incorporating caliper functionality and it unlocked the project entirely. The added complexity and engineering challenges meant a delay was inevitable, but we all agreed it would be worth the wait.” - Hunter
“Calibrating the sliding feature was trickier than we thought. It came down to the right balance of hardware tightness and lubrication.” - Kevin
“We dialed in the perfect amount of friction and handfeel by deconstructing and reverse engineering a number of existing calipers around the office. In terms of the physical design, there is a clean beveled edge running around the perimeter of the product, but we also applied circular 'pips' (divots) on the rail of the slider to provide grip, like we did on the Best Wine Key. I love simple geometric ornamentation like this because it feels like the machinist’s equivalent of polka dots.
We’re always striving for the design 'sweet spot' where an object has the right balance of function and character. Can it feel new, but also familiar? Can it be playful as well as practical? For us, the Metrolog Ruler checks all those boxes and then some.” - Hunter
]]>
9090 Espresso Coffee Maker
By: Alessi
What a classic and expressive design from Richard Sapper. That handle really insists that you handle it.
Cable Knit Sweater
By: Filson
Extremely familiar (and well executed) form, in a very unexpected color. I love it.
Eyewear Stand
By: Craighill
I feel guilty putting this in writing, but this is my favorite Craighill product. It elegantly solves a small but persistent problem (where did I put my glasses?) and it has just the right amount of character.
Bread Knife
By: Veark
The raw drop-forged handle of Veark's Chefs Knife gets most of the attention, but I'm here to tell you their bread knife is a delight to use. The tapered shaping of the handle is appropriately restrained, and the blue rivet is the perfect finishing touch.
Wavelinks Puzzle
By: Craighill
This puzzle has enjoyed a prime position on my desk — right above my keyboard — for the last year. The components are intriguing in either its assembled or dissassembled state, and I still find the solution so satisfying (and graceful!).
Amaryllis
By: White Flower Farm
This is still my go-to gift for the hard-to-please. It feels similarly decadent to gifting a bottle of champagne, but I think most people would prefer to experience the months of beauty and satisfaction that the amaryllis provides.
OD11-43 Dining Chair
By: Overgaard & Dyrman
Much more complex of a design than I normally prefer, but the heart wants what the heart wants. It builds on a century's worth of wireformed chair designs but still manages to feel fresh.
Tape Dispenser
By: Craighill
Our Design Engineer, Kevin Chee, discovered this Italian-made tape dispenser, and not only is it dramatically more handsome than your standard tape gun, but I also find it way more intuitive to use. l just used one extensively while packing up our seasonal surge of orders, and it's retained its spot as my favorite packaging tool. I also keep one at home to tape up boxes or bundle cardboard for recycling.
Vanilla Chocolate
By: Bonajuto Chocolate
I've been trying to convert everyone to this chocolate. It has a slightly grainy (crystaline?) texture that comes from the traditional grinding process that makes it more aromatic and, well, gritty. In a good way.
Still Life with Shells and a Chip-Wood Box,Sebastian Stoskopff, late 1620s
Feeling inspired, we set about creating a Craighill Guide to Still-Life Composition for use in your own home. Since a still life captures the beauty of everyday objects and transitory moments, we think it’s a worthy practice for contemporary life.
Whether you decide to pick up a paint brush after composing your still life is completely up to you — you might choose to simply look upon your new dining table centerpiece or entryway showstopper with supreme satisfaction.
And now, a few tips from us on how to compose your very own still life.
Still life with fruits and flowers, Balthasar van der Ast, 1621
Optional – Capture your still life: Procure the artistic tools you most enjoy using, whether paint, pencil, camera, or even crayon. While Renaissance artists valued realistic depictions above all else, in our modern world we are free to be colorful, abstract, and spatially inaccurate.
]]>
Using our new Playing Cards, we’ve created a house of cards guide for the curious and bold.
While most of us know and love (or hate) the Triangular House method, we decided to go with the Four-Card Cell technique, which is easier, more stable, and allows greater room for creativity.
We hear it all the time – we make perfect Father's Day gifts.
As we approach Father's Day, who are we to argue?
To help you discover the right one, we've rounded up some perfect gifts for many different types of Dads out there.
For the sophisticated child at heart. Does your dad love amazing works of engineering, enjoy a challenge, and want a little sculpture on his desk? Get him this.
For the dad who is serious about his listening. Maybe he has a special corner, a comfy chair, and some really nice looking equipment. He definitely has a slick pair of headphones, but he needs somewhere to keep them. Voila!
For the list-maker and note-taker Dad, always searching for a pen. The Caro Pen hooks directly onto a set of keys or lanyard, so it's always there in a pinch, and you can have it custom engraved with his initials (or maybe just DAD).
Does Dad like going to National Parks, but also enjoy Art? This is the carabiner he needs.
Is Dad a cash guy? Maybe he's toting it around in a rubber band or a binder clip? Sounds like it's time for an upgrade.
For the dad who is magnetically drawn to sharp objects, we offer the Rook Knife. It's sleek and understated, and the experience of flipping it open is primally satisfying.
For the Chief Executive Dad – he probably has a beautiful desk, and loves fascinating, artful objects. Why get him just one puzzle when you could get him three, in a gorgeous package?
For the glasses Dad. Eyeglasses, sunglasses, reading glasses. This cast metal pedestal will ensure that he knows where he put them, and he knows where to find them.
Looking for more great gift ideas? Shop the entire collection, top notch options abound.
]]>
People often seem to move during the summertime, but this year I found myself unpacking in a new apartment on a spring day. The journey so far has felt in tune with the reflection and renewal springtime evokes, and I’ve appreciated the crisp air and chirping birds mixed in with the rustling of cardboard.
When I move somewhere new, I typically have a three month window of motivation to get the space sorted. After that window, the odds of me prioritizing the hunt for that perfect bedside lamp or area rug drop off pretty quickly.
Thankfully I just moved and it turns out we make a lot of space-sorting objects here at Craighill. Presented below, in no particular order, are some items that recently relocated from our inventory shelves to my new apartment:
Five of these are now present next to my front door (directly above our shoe-tying bench), and they are designated for guest use only. I want the hooks to be available and inviting for newcomers to use, who will then compliment them. Does overthinking the guest experience make me a good host? I sure hope so.
We designed this product because we needed this product. I didn’t actually get to take one of these home until last week and it’s already a critical part of my workspace setup. It sits on my desk, which for the time being is my dining table.
Currently sitting on a cardboard box near my front door, providing a perfect home for my keys. My apartment is my home, but it is also home for my objects.
Another object sitting on a cardboard box, but this time in my living room. I can’t recommend the Cloud Planter enough to those who have recently moved and need to make the space their own. It’s also a great housewarming gift for a loved one. All you need to do is add a 6” plant liner to this and it creates a sense of calm in any space.
I recently left my favorite pair of Izipizi sunglasses in San Francisco, so I decided to buy 2 replacement pairs, just so I’d have extra backup. Sunglasses are my accessory of choice, and I now keep my 3 most frequently used pairs on Eyewear Stands on my dresser, which creates instant personality in the room. (If anyone from Izipizi is reading this, can we please collaborate on something?)
Perhaps this guide will help you pull your space together, whether you’re moving, giving the good old spring cleaning a try, or looking to give a housewarming gift to a close friend. You can also explore our home goods collection for many more beautiful and functional objects that bring warmth to your living space, for whatever season of life you find yourself in today.
]]>
The Headphone Stand is purposefully constructed to ensure that your headphones are safe from the everyday perils of your listening and working stations. This simple and airy design is achieved in part by wire forming.
Wire forming is an expansive manufacturing process that can turn wired steel, brass, copper, and many other alloys into nearly any desired shape.
One of the simplest examples of wire forming is the humble paperclip — small, malleable, and filled with purpose. Its production is mesmerizing, and you can catch a glimpse of it here. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, as you can see: star, cactus, cowboy hat, etc. Wire forming is also used to produce heavier, thicker items like fasteners, springs, wire shelves, and baskets.
Our Headphone Stand is made by bent wire forming and stamping. First, the two-dimensional shape is produced through force imparted on a sturdy stainless steel wire (diameter measuring in at 9mm). Next, the stamping process takes the shape that was just created, and folds it in at the exact angle needed for the Headphone Stand’s cantilevered silhouette. These two processes create both the base and the balance necessary to securely hold headphones.
Once the base has been formed, our factory uses the above jig to assess the resulting shape, verifying that all angles and radii are to spec so your headphones can rest easy when you’re not using them.
Wire forming was just the right process for a headphone stand that goes beyond pure functionality. A sculptural object that fits naturally into any environment, it is beautiful and functional, decorative and helpful.
]]>We talk a lot about home and office organization here, and the idea for a headphone stand has been floated around since the early days of the business. Both customers and friends would regularly write in, struggling to find a suitable ‘dock’ for their cherished headphones. We realized we shared this problem, and an attractive solution was hard to find.
We had just completed development of the Little Cloud Tray, our first molded cork product, and we thought this material and process could be right for the Headphone Stand. We spent about six weeks experimenting with cork and making 3D prints. We even carved a prototype from a large block of cork with a dremel and a saw before concluding we couldn’t achieve the sleek form we wanted in that material. This was the first of many possible directions that didn’t quite lead us to the Headphone Stand we were dreaming of.
We decided to go back to the drawing board and take a more methodical approach. Rather than starting with a material or manufacturing process, we thought about how the product should behave, how it should be interacted with, what kind of a presence it should have.
It should feel like a home for your headphones, like a safe and welcoming harbor for when you don’t need them on your head. It should flatter your headphones, not distract from them. It should show your headphones care and respect. It should behave like an outstretched hand, patiently waiting to hold your headphones. It should be universal enough to accommodate a variety of headband styles and sizes.
Once we deeply understood these goals, we honed in on the form that would actually support the headband — something akin to a re-proportioned horseback riding saddle. We turned to one of my favorite design tools, modeling clay, and spent a couple of hours passing rudimentary clay forms back and forth. Silicone was the logical material for the shape we finally landed on: it could be durable, pliable, and precise. For the base, we went with a single piece of formed stainless steel wire, finished with the ultra-durable matte black PVD coating we use across many of our steel products.
The resulting product fulfilled all the ideals we had laid out, and most importantly, it felt like the Headphone Stand we wanted in our lives.
Learn more about the Headphone Stand here.
]]>The members of our team are the ultimate authorities on everything Craighill. Who better to offer thoughtful suggestions on which items make the perfect gift?
THE PERCH BOOKMARK
The Perch Bookmark is my literal dream come true – it is gorgeous, it is functional and it belongs in everyone’s current reading material. Thoughtfully designed to not fall out of pages, this beauty is a perfect stocking stuffer!
– Melanie
THE CHROMA SCISSORS
It’s love at first sight with these beautifully bright and playful scissors, made in New York by a multi-generational company. I can’t imagine someone not being excited when they receive this exceptionally unique and useful object.
– Hannah
THE STATION MONEY CLIP
For the person on your list who prefers to choose. The Station Money Clip is an elevated complement for cash and gift cards. Its mesmerizing shape and finish will intrigue those who receive it and enrich their lives with a light and neat design.
– Bunny
THE FALSE BOOKS
This is my favorite gift to give. It’s a place to store contraband, so you immediately enter into a conspiratorial relationship with the recipient. Who doesn’t love a little conspiracy?
– Zach
THE SEARCHER
The design of the individual products in the Searcher are a chic black-and-brass, each having their own useful quality. The packaging design is top tier, which adds the benefit of not having to overthink your wrapping.
– Moran
THE LARK KNIFE
The Lark Knife is the handiest little addition to my keyring and I think most people would find it useful. With a quick flick of the wrist or a careful two-handed opening, anyone can wield the almighty power of the Lark Knife. Letters — consider them all opened. Boxes — goodbye, you’re collapsed. Friends & family — in silent awe.
– Kevin
THE FACET BOWLS
The Facet Bowl’s cradle-like design makes it easy to use it as a storage surface in any room of the house: as a space to throw your keys when you walk in the door, or to display complex napkin origami at the center of your dining area. I personally own two of these and I receive compliments on them whenever I have company!
– Juan
THE TYCHO PUZZLE
The Tycho Puzzle is an ideal gift for any problem solver in your life. Once solved, it doubles as the perfect desk accessory. It truly makes for a memorable gift this holiday season!
– Kaitlyn
]]>
This is the kind of leash that makes me wish I had a dog.
I'm constantly searching for a pen: to write a reminder, to label my lunch in the studio fridge, to diagram a design detail before I forget it. The Caro Pen was designed precisely to solve this problem. With it firmly secured to my keyring, I always know I have a pen within arm's reach.
The miracle of horticulture, attainable in the midst of winter, in the convenience of your home. A pre-potted Amaryllis requires only water and light to produce some highly impressive blooms in just 8 weeks. Pairs wonderfully with our Cloud Planter.
I wear this to work every day, packed with my lunch and a few other necessities, strapped across my back so I can bike unencumbered. Water-resistant, comfortable, and handsome, to boot.
A simple modulation of a traditional lampshade construction results here in a strikingly beautiful form — and an easy way to update an otherwise olde lampe in someone's life.
The Puzzle that started it all, and still our most challenging to solve. Five of the pieces have to precariously align while you slide the final 'key' piece into place, which locks the form together. Is it captivating? Is it harrowing? Yes!
From the folks that brought you 'Untitled Goose Game' — We've long admired the creativity behind this new handheld gaming device. Introducing a crank as an input method strikes just the right balance between brilliant and absurd. And the build quality is a pleasure to behold!
I have a soft spot for simple, elevated storage. The narrow / wide scale of this piece makes it particularly well-suited for smaller spaces (entryways, bookcases, coffee tables) and the materiality and sculpting can add a final polish to any thoughtfully composed space.
I love these brightly-colored Pelican cases. I use a large trolley version as my carry-on luggage. They're watertight, versatile, and bomb-proof. Does my lifestyle require storage with all those technical features? Absolutely not. Do these cases bring me joy? They do.
Have you ever been on a nice boat? Where every inch of the cabin is crafted for maximal efficiency and beauty? A well-placed wall hook can bring a little bit of that intentionality to your home.
As a spectacle wearer, you’ll be familiar with the biennial investment of new glasses. So what better way to keep them safe than with a tactile, solid metal eyewear stand?
In the name of good habits and deskscape diligence, here’s 5 reasons why you need the Craighill eyewear stand.
Whether your frame is made from metal, acetate or both, scratches aren’t a great look. If you’re into the habit of leaving your glasses lying around, the chances of grit tarnishing your frame are tenfold.
Over time, scratches on your once glossy glasses frame will eventually dull the surface-finish making your glasses look old and tired.
With a eyewear stand, you can keep your frame aloft, away from dreaded scuffs. Better still, the solid metal body makes it an incredibly stable companion for your designated safe-place.
Whether you’re single vision or multifocal, prescription lenses are as delicate as they are costly. Grime, grease and dirt will only diminish your lenses’ ability to refract light, thus reducing optical clarity and overall performance.
If you’ve invested in anti-glare or anti-scratch lenses, you should endeavor to keep those coatings clean and dirt free. Not only will you see better, but you’ll look better too.
Eye-contact is a nice way to connect with other humans.
A handy way to keep your glasses clean is to keep them away from dust, coffee spills or anything that’ll make your optician want to cry.
The Craighill eyewear stand is the perfect podium for keeping your beloved glasses away from any nasties.
Growing up, you were likely told to put things back where you found them.
If you’ve ever lost a pair of glasses, that painful lesson is surely enough to keep your new ones safe in a regular place. At home or at work, a eyewear stand will be a magnificent mantle for your eyeglasses. A sturdy pillar demonstrating your care for your things.
As they say, an organized space is an organized mind.
If your coat goes on a hanger, or your shoes rest on a rack, it’s time to elevate your eyewear storage game once and for all.
Until now, you’ve probably kept your eyeglasses in their protective case. Not a bad tactic, but it’s a lonely existence in there, hidden from view.
As a spectacle wearer, why not showcase your optical identity and display your glasses for people to see? When you aren’t wearing them, a glasses holderis the just the accessory you need to host your most prized possession.
Undeniably, a solid piece of steel brass is a truly pleasing thing.
But there’s deeper value behind these metals than just a beautifully sculpted piece of weighty ore.
In ancient Vedic scriptures, brass heralds’ positivity and fruitful abundance in life. It’s believed this treasured material can improve health by increasing your energy levels and soothing any bodily inflammation. A reassuring sentiment as you poise your spectacles.
And then there’s steel.
Revered for it’s robust hardiness, steel is believed to be a strong barrier against negativity and aggression. Used to build bridges, skyscrapers and planes, your steel eyewear stand may-well deter any nay sayers, leaving both your happiness and eyeglasses intact.
For spectacle wearers, the Craighill eyeglass holder plays a harmonious role amongst a wider deskscape eco system.
At home or your office workspace, your optical workflow is immediately enriched with this precision machined perch. For staying organised and keeping your glasses safe, this functional accoutrement is a tactile way to elevate your environment and enjoy the sensory satisfaction of good design.
In our busy lives, fewer but better additions such as these are a welcome touch point. A reminder to take joy in the good things.
by Jamie Bartlett | Banton Frameworks
]]>
The first key is the endless search. When you’re moving through the world, it’s fun to keep an eye out for amazing gifts. Often we go out in search of a gift for a specific person, but it can be much easier to first identify a wonderful gift, and then search your mental rolodex for the perfect person to share it with. Perhaps you stumble upon a beautiful mechanical puzzle, you’re enchanted by its form, and you realize that your architect friend has a shelf behind their desk of similarly captivating objects. They’re certain to be moved that you choose something with such intention.
Another key element is careful listening. There is no more magical gift-receiving experience than when someone has heard you mention something you love, filed it away, and then produced it out of thin air when you least expect it. Our friends and loved ones plant seeds all the time, revealing their wants and desires, and we can easily satisfy these wishes by maintaining the presence of mind to take note. If you’re particularly organized, create a spreadsheet and whenever anyone mentions something offhand that is noteworthy, write it down and file it away for later. Perhaps your colleague voices frustration about their oversized, messy key-carrying situation, and you know just the perfect item to help them simplify and elevate.
Finally, our favorite, number one tip for impactful gifting is off-calendar spontaneity. We are all conditioned to share gifts with our loved ones on birthdays, holidays, or other major life moments. But the biggest surprises come when the recipient is least expecting it. Establishing a rhythm of giving gifts randomly is the ultimate magic trick in this realm.
By combining the ongoing search for amazing gifts, the presence of mind to listen and catalog what people might love to receive, and then sharing gifts with your special people at unexpected moments, you will be widely regarded as having superpowers. You will feel amazing, and you will make the people around you feel amazing. It requires a bit of planning, thought, and upkeep, but it is a truly blissful way of announcing your love, care, and thought for the people around you who make life special.
]]>Last April we relocated from our original office building at 87 Richardson St. here in Brooklyn to just a couple miles up the road at the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC).
The GMDC has a fascinating history — built in 1868 and originally known as the Chelsea Fiber Mill, this historic brick building was a hub for maritime rope and textile production. One hundred years later the mill belonged to New York State and seemed destined for demolition, until a true hero appeared with some extra cash to spare.
The building was sold for just $1.00 (really) to The North Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, and from there it became what it is today: an affordable home for artists and small businesses (exclusively!) amid tall glass apartment buildings and corporate offices.
We feel incredibly fortunate to have found a home here, among other designers, artists, furniture makers, and creators. To celebrate one year spent in our new home, we wanted to document some of our favorite parts of the office and building. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our daily routine and endeavors.
Walking to the GMDC, one can’t help but notice the new construction of high rises looming — the cranes meticulously lifting, swaying, and dropping. In the parking lot, UPS and FedEx trucks vie for the choice loading dock spot, artisans lead their giant dogs into the building, and somehow the B43 bus manages to loop around the bustling lot at the end of its route.
Before entering, you might pause at the small waterfront park to contemplate New York City’s puzzling system of nature and industry. Surely, the pigeons experience their best quality of life by the water, one might think — the breeze from Newtown Creek makes them soar higher, and for longer.
Space at the GMDC is rarely available, and we were lucky enough to acquire ours through some friends who happened to be vacating. The layout was much different from what we have now.
In order to create the environment we wanted — which was an office with more opportunities for defined spaces, rooms, privacy— we needed to take down walls and build others. We involved our friend and architect, Dante Furioso, who helped steer our approach.
The office has evolved more than just spatially since the construction — we’ve welcomed a handful of awesome new employees, launched and fulfilled the Tetra Puzzle Kickstarter, and designed products we’ve always wanted to bring to life.
A nice space to work and collaborate is important, we told ourselves. But unfortunately you can’t 3D print an entire office. What you see here took time, thought, and lots of careful measuring.
One area that brings us all together in a new way is the designated conference table.
Instead of huddling around our Customer Support Specialist Hannah’s desk, and magnifying her computer screen to 200% for our monthly meeting, we now gather at a table, with the computer connected to a big television on wheels (which we conveniently removed from this lovely image).
Here we have our new sitting area, featuring a navy blue loveseat and coffee table from Lichen, our friends we collaborated with on the Cloud Planter (which also appears four or five times throughout the office).
Our cubicles are bright, beautiful, and designed specially for Craighill.
Each cubicle feels like its own workshop, accentuating each person’s talents, specialities, and tastes.
Even with the new division of space, inventory still overflows. We’ve embraced the boxes that stack up along the cubicles. Plants always help.
We knew we needed a showroom for business partner visits and video calls, or for the curious visitor passing by.
Nothing in our showroom corner gathers dust, as we are always holding and examining our products, whether for the purpose of answering a customer question or for our own personal enjoyment.
Where there is a 3D printer there will be many prototypes and musings, and this is abundant in our magical Design Studio (more commonly referred to as Hunter’s Office).
The studio is in many ways the nerve center of the business, and in it you can find a collection of models, material samples, historical references, and familiar objects waiting to be reimagined.
The inventory and fulfillment room is a special and highly organized place.
Industrial shelves tower with puzzles, keyrings, pens, and many other brass, steel, and cork objects. Here is the source of the stretching and tearing of tape, the stuffing of packing material, the import and export of inventory that echoes throughout the office.
Our workshop – a galley room which houses our laser cutter, vibratory tumblers, buffing wheels, overstock, and off-season fans for cooling or heating – has been the hardest to organize and imagine. Until our new Design Engineer Kevin stepped in and completely transformed the space in the span of three days. We truly don’t know how he did it.
The door we used to dare not open, now stays propped and we find ourselves desperate to walk into the room for no apparent reason at all. There is a window that overlooks the Pulaski Bridge, and for now, this is our excuse.
It feels right to be in a building rich with creativity and character. The creaky, wooden floors hold a history we can only speculate upon, and fixtures like the archaic elevator mechanism above our entryway pique our curiosity.
Making things at the GMDC connects us to a deeper sense of the built world. The proximity to the road work, the lifting drawbridge, delivery truck exhaust, boat horns, buzzing saws, and clattering wood means we are never out of raw material for ingenuity and wonder.
We’re grateful to be here, and thank you for your support along the way!
Words by Hannah Risinger & Zach Fried
Photos by Aaron Bengochea
]]>Since we launched Craighill in 2015 we’ve been curious about designing a pen, but it took years to find the right design and the right manufacturing approach. We’re extremely pleased with how the Kepler Pen turned out, and we wanted to shed some light on the process we went through to land on the design.
We knew when we set out to design a pen that we wanted to explore mathematically driven and rational patterns for the pen body. We tested a variety of perforations, textures, and twists, ultimately landing on a waveform interpretation that touched on three of our top design priorities: a combination of beauty, functionality, and tactile satisfaction.
The Kepler Pen’s primary detail – the rhythmic wave pattern emanating from the tip – is based on the golden ratio. The spacing of the waves grows progressively farther apart in a logarithmic fashion as you move from the tip to the plunger. This was a very satisfying and exciting detail to zero in on when it emerged in the process of exploring and playing with the design. The undulating pattern helps add a sense of liquidity to the metal body, which is an unexpected material and visual contrast, and the tightly spaced ripples near the tip also create a comfortable, natural grip.
In devising a construction for the Kepler Pen, we focused on a distilled approach that centered on a precision clicker mechanism from Germany. The body is composed of a single component that is turned on a high-precision CNC lathe, and the entire assembly requires only a single spring. It’s a study in simplicity, and this production method helped to highlight and reinforce the continuity of the pattern running down the barrel.
We’ve always loved retractable pens – there’s still something very ingenious about the pen tip simply retracting when not in use, preventing errant marks. And you'll never need to worry about misplacing a pen cap. The actual act of retracting the tip is also extremely satisfying, as the resistance of the spring and the carefully dialed in proportions of the plunger create a smooth, heavy click.
We chose to name the Kepler Pen for the mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, who was particularly fascinated by the principles of the golden ratio and its magical properties of harmony and proportion.
While the Kepler Pen certainly travels nicely in a bag or even in a pocket, it’s perhaps most at home on your desk, paired with our Pen Rest and Desk Pad. Shop the Kepler Pen here.
]]>
Lichen is an amazing furniture shop and design incubator down the road from us here in Brooklyn, NY. We've been big fans since they opened in 2017, and we've been lucky enough to befriend the owners Jared Blake and Ed Be over the past couple of years. Since launching, they've done a remarkable job of presenting beautiful, highly coveted, historically significant furniture in a way that's accessible and inviting. In a world that can be stuffy and intimidating, it's a very refreshing perspective to come across.
When we connected last year and began exploring the idea of collaborating on a product, we were excited to find shared interests and perspectives on how and why products get designed and produced. We both love simple products that are in some way greater than the sum of their parts, enhancing the spaces and lives of their owners in ways that have unexpectedly outsized impact.
Over the course of the past six months, we teamed up on the design and development of a simple, satisfying cork vessel that can help tie together any space and bring some plant life inside. We're very happy to share the Cloud Planter here.
We caught up with Jared to get his insight on products, collaboration, and what's next for Lichen.
What do you prioritize when you're designing and developing a new product like the Cloud Planter?
All of the designs and developments we have a hand in should make a change for the betterment of the end user - or it has to challenge their prior conception of what a specific product could be.
What makes a new product satisfying and successful in your eyes?
Any product that feels like it solves a problem...Design can be like a crossword puzzle where products fit cohesively with one another seamlessly. The Cloud Planter solves the relationship between indoor and outdoor life.
What's your favorite part about collaborating?
Bringing two parties’ thought processes together for a single idea then pushing that idea to life. We always knew we’d work with the Craighill guys on something but we never forced any concepts; this collab came together very organically over time.
How do plants fit into your lives, both at home and in the shop?
One thing we realized when setting up shop in our early days was that rugs and plants complete a space. You can buy everything well-curated and styled nicely but something will always always always be amiss without plant life. Every time.
What is it about cork that draws you to it as a material?
The Cloud Planter is made of cork and cork is 100% naturally sustainable. We’re working diligently to create timeless products that can last and continue taking strides to keep the environment in mind.
Are there any particular product types that you're excited to work on that you haven't embarked on yet?
We’re excited to be working with resin very soon. Christine Espinal, one of our talented design members, has recently started working with resin as a medium. There’s a special opacity and softness that we can’t achieve with any of the other materials that we work with.
You and your team have done a great job of communicating a philosophy around making design more inclusive, inviting, and accessible. How do these values inform the work you do on a daily basis?
Empathy within our designs is a constant factor. Price, Product, Texture, and Form. Our usage of materials is often an afterthought as we tend to start from our desired price point and work backwards.
Lichen 2022, what's in the works?
2022 will be about continuing to deal the hand that we’re dealt. We didn’t plan on being here in this capacity 3 years ago. Our impact is spreading throughout many industries, interior design pages, and facets of lifestyle. We hope to continue to show that we have you in mind. Also, maybe some printed matter...
Learn more about Lichen here, and snag a Cloud Planter of your own here.
]]>Dating back to the early 20th century, the nitrocarburizing process changes the molecular structure of the shell of a steel or iron object to be far more durable, while the interior remains unchanged. This finish is most commonly used in automobile and industrial parts and firearms, where the end result yields lower friction, increased hardness, and resistance to corrosion even in the harshest of conditions.
The journey of our Carbon Black products starts with a solid steel form, first preheated and washed at extremely high temperatures, then plunged into molten salt nitriding baths at temperatures above 1000°F. Once submerged, the nitrogen and carbon in the bath permeate and fuse with the steel, permanently altering the outermost layer of the product. What we end up with is a smooth, matte black finish that is resistant to whatever wear we endeavor to throw at it.
The soaring temperatures reached during this process would melt other metals like brass, copper, or silver — but steel withstands the heat and is made much stronger for it. In the case of our Carbon Black Wilson & Closed Helix Keyrings, the finish is harder than the brass keys it carries, sometimes resulting in a deposit of brass material that wipes off with ease.
Utilizing the nitrocarburized finish allows for the unique opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to a product that has traditionally been released only in its stainless steel form, like with the recent release of the storied Venn Puzzle in Carbon Black. The holy trinity of Craighill’s traditional Brass, Steel, and Carbon Black offerings would not be complete without this creative design application of what has historically been thought of as a purely industrial process.
]]>As a new way of moving through the world has rapidly emerged, old habits die hard. In order to help mitigate the inadvertent spreading of germs after pressing a button or opening a door, a simple tactile instrument can come in handy. Will this tool alone solve our problems? Certainly not. But when paired with other healthy practices, it has the potential to make a small but meaningful difference.
“Over the past couple of months, our routines have gone through numerous tectonic shifts,” notes Hunter Craighill, Design Director of Craighill. “As we all work to navigate the physical world with greater awareness, the desire for objects to help prevent mistakes has grown increasingly apparent. Our friends and customers began requesting that we develop a touch tool before I knew what that was, and after a bit of careful consideration around form and function, we’re happy to share the Sigma.”
Named for its resemblance to the Greek letter Sigma ∑, the Sigma Touch Tool is machined from solid brass. It features an eyelet for attaching to a keyring, a hooked surface for pulling doors, and a subtle protrusion for use as a stylus and button-pusher. Pick one up for yourself here.
]]>Fashioned from precision-machined anodized aluminum, it’s an airtight container that’s equally suited to storing rare spices or heirloom jewelry.
The look and feel will be instantly familiar to any MacBook user. But rather than housing technology, this is a place to keep something of value.
“As we continue to develop objects, the idea of creating little homes is increasingly resonant” says Hunter Craighill, Design Director of Craighill. “We often try to evoke the feeling children have of discovering a special rock and finding a hiding place for it. Adults are also permitted to collect and hide their special rocks, and the Press Vessel is a very nice little home for treasures.”
As with many other Craighill products, the first thing you notice picking up the Press Vessel is the hand feel—it reads as deliberate, as though tactility was a chief consideration. Upon removing the lid, the precision fit also becomes apparent: this is no simple jar.
While the potential uses abound, some options for storage include: prized finishing salt, luxe eye cream, redolent incense, or sought-after coins.
The Press Vessel costs $48, weighs 5 oz and measures 2.5” D x 2”. Crafted from anodized aluminum, it features a silicone ring around the lid for an air-tight closure, and it’s available in black or silver finishes. The Press Vessel is available here.
]]>The Cal Bookend is named for its resemblance to the caltrop—a rudimentary antipersonnel weapon—but in this case a tool of warfare has been redeployed as an object whose purpose is to literally uphold knowledge. Weighing just over two pounds each, they are fitted with rubber feet along the bottom to ensure a stable hold for even the largest of tomes.
Designed by Revision for Craighill, this is our first release with outside design talent. Revision is a new design studio based in North Carolina, helmed by Nate McCracken and Damein Williams. Both have a wide variety of experiences in the realm of design, and Nate was actually Craighill's first employee. So while we might not have ventured too far afield, we’re excited to be embarking on a new chapter of creative dialog and collaboration. We asked Nate a few questions about the story behind the product, and what Revision is looking toward for the future.
What was the jumping off point for the Cal Bookend, and how long did it take from initial idea to finalized form?
The Cal Bookend was conceived as a simple construction detail. Normally, a single bolt isn’t enough to secure two rods together, but bend the two rods across one another and a single bolt can lock them up into a distinct tripod form. We played with this caltrop form for a while before finding the right function as a bookend. It has a unique character and the assembly that takes place at home lets you appreciate the construction that gave inspiration to the whole design.
All told, we tossed the Cal Bookend back and forth between us for about six months before we approached Craighill with the design. Even as we located manufacturers and defined the details it never strayed far from the initial form.
Why did Craighill seem like the right home for the Cal Bookend?
I began my career working alongside Hunter in the early days of Craighill, working on the Jack Puzzle, Venn Puzzle, and Trophy bottle opener. This experience informed how I design, so approaching Hunter with our first ideas and launching our inaugural product with Craighill was a natural fit. There is some shared DNA between the two brands and there are a lot of design elements in the Cal Bookend that link to the rest of the Craighill collection.
This is the first product launch for Revision. How did you form your partnership and what do you hope to achieve as a design studio?
Damein and I stayed in touch after graduating from Appalachian State University together, and then we formed Revision in 2018. Our very different skillsets compliment each other, so we’re a small and effective design team. Owning and operating our own independent design studio gives us satisfying control over our own success.
As we see the first product from our studio enter the market, we want to build more high-quality pieces that are both elegant and affordable. Our goal is to build a strong body of work at a steady pace, bringing those designs into reality by partnering with great design brands like Craighill.
]]>The only near-given in the contemporary deskscape is the computer, the defining tool of our age. But there are a few other items we’ve found object-conscious people often carefully consider in crafting their work environment. For us, it’s the pen, the notebook, the calculator, and the cutting tool. These are the four physical objects we reach for again and again in the course of a day. We’re big believers in making lists and sketching ideas, so the pen and paper follow. And we also have to crunch numbers quite frequently, anything from dollars and cents to dimensional analysis.
And finally, we receive a relatively endless deluge of mail and packages: bills, checks, raw materials, packing supplies. On a daily basis each of us reach for a cutting tool multiple times, but the right one was rarely close enough. Scissors are awkward for opening boxes, letter openers are dull, and pocket knives belong in your pocket. The tool we desired was something we had to make for ourselves.
Drawing inspiration from the Japanese kiridashi knife, we set out to make something elemental and functional, but with a form factor more closely related to a writing tool. We also drew on our experience designing and manufacturing the Ripple Opener, starting with ⅝” round stainless bar stock and working with a subtractive process to cut material away. We first notched the material at ½” intervals to provide grip — and allow the knife to double as a quick visual ruler — then made two compound cuts to create the cutting edge. The flat ground edge is easy to maintain, meaning it’s simple to hone if you ever need it razor sharp.
The result is the Desk Knife, a multipurpose cutting tool that rests elegantly on a tabletop, as though its emerging from the surface, inviting you to pick it up. It’s become our go-to blade for all simple cutting tasks, and it gets the job done. Grab one here.
]]>In order to rectify this problem we started thinking about making a physical object that we could place in certain product photography on our website that would demonstrate the scale of the product. Internally this became known as the cubic inch. It existed in a purely conceptual form for months, but one day last fall we decided it was time to embark on actually creating this object. It’s an inherently — almost comically — simple idea, and so we started really drilling down into the question: what is an inch? As it turns out, in the endlessly arbitrary and antiquated glory that is Imperial measurement system, the inch was originally defined as being equal to three barleycorns (another unit of measure) or “three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end, lengthwise.” Highly scientific, to say the least. Over the years the inch has become slightly more standardized, but if we were to produce an object that would be our spatial reference for all products moving forward, we wanted to make sure it was as precise as possible. Enter Invar.
Through a bit of research, trying to figure out how to make the most precise metal cubic inch possible, we discovered a specialty metal called Invar. Invented in 1896 by the Swiss physicist Charles Edouard Guillaume, Invar is a nickel-iron alloy that is remarkable for it’s dimensional stability. It has the lowest coefficient of thermal expansion of any known metal alloy under earth conditions, which essentially means that unlike other metals, as Invar heats and cools, it hardly expands and contracts at all. So when you make a cubic inch out of it, it will always be (almost) exactly one inch in all directions. Our Invar Cubic Inch is precise to 0.001”, which is half the thickness of a standard piece of printer paper. The invention of Invar was a breakthrough for scientific measurement devices due to its’ extreme precision, and Guillaume was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for its’ invention. Not bad.
So we went on our way and worked with a machinist friend of ours in Rhode Island to actually manufacture the object. After having received them at our office here in New York, we couldn’t stop playing around with them. I’d find myself absentmindedly fiddling with one while on conference calls, and it quickly was awarded a coveted spot on my desk with all of my other beatiful and largely useless objects. It turns out that it’s not just a super precise unit of measure, it’s also a nice thing to look at and play with. We decided that we’d accidentally designed a new product.
The last piece of the puzzle was to engrave the specs (1 cu in, ± 0.001) on one face of the cube. To make that happen, we employed our mini-mill, which we recently retrofitted with CNC capability. For those of you who have no idea what that means, imagine a sophisticated, computer-controlled drill. And we used it to engrave tiny letters and numbers on the Invar Cubic Inch.
This is by far our most self-indulgent and ridiculous product to date. But our hope is that there are people out there who are as captivated and amused by the stories behind products as we are. The journey to make this thing revealed a lot of interesting information and taught us a lot about how things are made. And so the product itself now exists as a celebration and culmination of that journey. Thanks for reading, and we promise our next release will be at least slightly less cerebral.
If we've piqued your interest, you can pick up your own Invar Cubic Inch right here.
]]>The Closed Helix Keyring was highlighted in GQ's "Best Stuff of 2017," a feature that explores the best products of the year. Here's what they had to say:
"A little thoughtful engineering and some finely milled brass turn this everyday tool into something that feels like a piece of art. These American made Closed Helix Keyrings by Brooklyn design house Craighill feature the simplest mechanism (one end unscrews), but the transformation in your relationship to the annoying, jangly things you're forced to carry in your pocket is huge."
We're honored to have been included, and you can pick one up for yourself right here.
]]>The 'crown cork' has been sealing carbonated beverages for more than a century, and designers have been churning out openers since day one. The requirement is simple — a basic lever and prying edge — which has lead to countless variations.
]]>The 'crown cork' has been sealing carbonated beverages for more than a century, and designers have been churning out openers since day one. The requirement is simple — a basic lever and prying edge — which has lead to countless variations.
Cracking open a sealed bottle has always felt like a small, but celebratory, ritual. We wanted to honor that ritual with a tool that quietly reflected the momentary joy of that action.
Similar to the Jack Puzzle, we wanted to work with an existing bar stock — in this case, 5/8" diameter stainless steel bar— which we found the have the best weight and hand feel.
In our hunt for a domestic manufacturer capable of producing the tight tolerances that our Jack Puzzle required, we were introduced to a machine shop in Wisconsin that specializes in high precision milling and turning. We worked closely with their lead engineer to develop an understanding of their efficiencies and areas of expertise.
We had finalized the manufacturing process and the material, and now we had constraints to work within. After hundreds of sketches, dozens of 3D prints, and a handful of physical prototypes, we landed on our final geometry.
Below at the left you can see the original raw bar stock, and at right is a finished Ripple Opener.
After a long and winding development process, the final result ticked a bunch of important boxes for us: familiar and visually intuitive, substantial and weighty in the hand, employs efficient domestic manufacturing, opens bottles.
We're pleased to be able to share a bit of the design and development process with you, and we look forward to continuing to do so with future product releases. Salut!
]]>