Core77

2014 Year in Review: Tool Storage Systems

By Rain Noe - January 2, 2015

in Featured Items | Hand Tools

Core77 2014 Year in Review: Top 15 Posts · Year in Photos · Drones · Transportation Design · Food & Drink · Wearable Technology · Power Tools and Hand Tools · Tool Storage · Organizational Solutions · Material News · Design Thinking · Architecture and Design GIFs

Our top-rated tool-related story of the year didn't involve a particular tool, but rather, the space where one stores and uses them. The story of a "Largely Intact Woodworking Shop from the 1700s Discovered, Being Used as a Storage Shed Behind a School" blew our minds and, judging by the numbers, yours.

Photo by Jeffrey E. Klee, Architectural Historian of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

After seeing the tool storage system from PraXsys, pictured below, we determined "What Our First Industrial Design School Assignment Should Have Been: Self-Made Carrying Cases." Before learning to design for others, oughtn't we learn to design things to carry our own gear?

In "A Slick Hinge from Germany, and Some Awesome Toolbox Designs from Brazil," woodworking madman Matthias Wandel uncovered an unusual toolbox in the shop of cabinetmaker Gregor Bruhn. Wandel then created a mock-up to show us how the slick hinge mechanism works, and we also got to see some clever takes on the design from a pair of young Brazilian craftsmen. Check out videos for both at the link above.

Following up on Bruhn's toolbox, we just had to find out where it's from. While I've never seen one in the 'States, that style of toolbox is apparently a bit more common in Europe. Here are some of the variants we found.

It's not often we hear of a tool storage system designed after a near-death experience, but that's what the TrakBelt360 is. Firefighter Chris Landano devised this rotatable, on-body system, and got it successfully Kickstarted just last month.