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Milk-Crate-Inspired ID Grad Hits a Quirky Target

By Rain Noe - June 14, 2012

in Object Culture

When it comes to DIY modular storage, it's no wonder that the milk crate has been a dorm room and shop staple for decades: It's stackable, sturdy, easy to move around, and for college students they're easy to come by if that supermarket's loading dock doesn't have any surveillance cameras.

Atlanta-based industrial designer Jenny Drinkard decided to take the milk crate to the next level. After bringing it through the Quirky process, the now-ready-for-primetime Crates feature accessories like shelves, drawers, connectors, wheels, legs, and protrusions for hanging stuff like corkboards and cable clips:

By the bye, Crates is Quirky's first product manufactured in the U.S., with the mold coming from a toolmaker in New Jersey being used for final production in Vermont. You can catch some shots of the tooling process in the video below.

Crates will be for sale online for a week, and on July 1st, retail giant Target will take over. Not too shabby for Drinkard, who was recently a mere ID student!

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Sally

12 years ago

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I was so excited about these when they were announced I missed the chance to buy them on Fab. They're now in our local Target and I see why Fab pulled them. They're very expensive ($20 for what competitors charge $5 for) and not very well made. There's flashing from the molding process that would totally provent you from snapping in the accesories. I was going to buy one anyway then decided I didn't want to spend the time cleaning up the bits of stray plastic AND overpaying for it as well.

Nice try, Quirky. It was an interesting idea.
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dennis

12 years ago

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and I thought "drawers" are meant to keep the stuff inside dust free... funny I have been wrong all these years :)
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DavidH

12 years ago

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Wow! This is the very first Quirky product I've seen that actually makes sense and isn't total garbage! Maybe it has something to do with the fact it came from a designer? Coincidentally, It's also the first Quirky video I've seen that's not just Ben Kaufman hi-fiving all the bros in the office.
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