We strive to make enduring treasures that feel like they’ve been with you the whole time. It’s a feeling inspired by the timeless heirlooms and personal totems that have populated our lives, and we suspected others felt the same way. In this first edition of Personal Treasures, we asked Fort Standard founder and designer Gregory Buntain to share some of the enduring items that shaped his life and work. 

Gregory Buntain:
 
Some of the most sentimental objects I own are tools. Two of my favorites belonged to my Grandfather Clifford Buntain, who was an engineer, machinist, and a man of many talents, including being a pilot. I also have his pilot’s log, which primarily documented crop-dusting flights but is heavily peppered with all sorts of aerial stunts he would perform in the plane. He worked as a Chief Engineer in several factories in Kansas City, Kansas that machined quartz for time movements and communications equipment. For a time he also worked at another company that made cathode ray tubes used for TVs (hence the phrase "watch the tube").
 
He passed away around the time I started Fort Standard, and when visiting his house in Tucson after his death, I naturally found myself in his garage looking through his tools. With the okay from my dad and uncle, I ended up shipping a big old army-green Pelican case full of his tools back to myself in Brooklyn.

"They serve as a daily reminder of my Grandpa Cliff, whom I credit as the primary origin of my mechanical abilities."

The Starrett dial calipers were in this haul, along with about a dozen other incredible Starrett tools. I use these calipers regularly, and they’re always front and center on my desk. While Starrett still produces these beautifully crafted tools today, this particular pair holds special meaning for me. They serve as a daily reminder of my Grandpa Cliff, whom I credit as the primary origin of my mechanical abilities — skills he passed down to my dad (who was also a machinist for a while), who then passed them on to me, and that I am now passing down to my own children. I also passed his name along to my oldest son, whose middle name is Clifford.
 
The hand-crank drill pictured also holds a special place in my heart as it was the first drill I ever used as a child. I knew as a child that it was my grandpa’s before it became my dad’s, so I knew it already held meaning before it was ever given to me, and I have always kept it close. I have fond memories of working on the floor of my dad’s little workshop in our basement growing up. I used the drill to create holes in small pieces of tile, which I turned into bases for little wire sculptures — sculptures my parents still proudly display in their homes.
 
Best,
Greg