The beauty of
a simple crate
I spotted this beautiful collapsible crate on the weekend in K-Mart. It is an exquisite piece of design and manufacturing.
There was no fancy packaging or pretentious product branding. It was simply shrink-wrapped with a single stuck-on barcode. The only way you could tell what it was was by the pricing label on the shelf! And yet – it is so self contained, so honest, so “this is a spade”… I love it!
It comes flat as shown in the top left photo below. When you lift the handles (folded into the back as shown on the top right photo below), the whole thing pops up into a crate! Magic.
Every part folded neatly and fitted together. The tooling on the mould was very well done with no daggy bits of plastic hanging off the joints and seams – as is often the case with cheap stuff.
Someone has invested rigorous thought into this simple little thing. This is craftsmanship. This is mastery. And I want to know who designed it!!! And it cost $4. Someone really gave a damn for $4. I take my hat off to you.
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How big is it and can I buy one?
It’s about the size of an archive box. I got mine from K-Mart in Chatswood Chase NSW. Although they don’t seem to stock it any more.
See? they do exist!! That is exactly what I have been looking for. I got one in the UK, and then I got one here in Melbourne, but for the life of me I can’t remember where I got it – which doesn’t help now I need 7 of them. Where did you get yours?
C
Ok, so I am an idiot – you got it from K-Mart. I searched my local K-Mart in Richmond though, and no luck. Anyone seen them anywhere else?
C
Sorry to tell you Cat, I got my one and only from K-Mart Chatswood (NSW). One week later, they had none left.