As a professional organizer, I've know a number of people who are very attached to their vinyl collections. And I also know that there are very few nice storage options for those LPs, especially ones that are modular and don't cost a fortune. So when I saw the Kickstarter for Grow, it definitely caught my attention.

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Grow was designed with the record collector in mind. Each cubby is about 13 inches tall, 13 inches deep and 11.21 inches wide, and can fit up to 70 records. In most configurations, there's also a display space for album covers.

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But, of course, Grow could be used to store any number of other things, from books to decorative items to clothes (for those users who work best when everything is out and visible). 

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Grow can be configured up to five cubbies tall. I asked designer Justin Godar about that limit, and he wrote: "I said five high because I've tested this height and I'm comfortable with it. There's technically no limit, but the assembly would fail at some point. Records are heavy, and collectors seem to like to stack high, so I will not advise going higher until I get a lab to test it out. I designed a lot of redundancy into this and the material is pretty strong."

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Grow is going to take a bit of space; it will extend 18.74" from a wall. So for users who have small rooms, this might not be the right storage solution. Alternatively, for those in larger spaces, Grow could even work nicely as a partition. 

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Grow is made from thermally fused laminate on CARB 2 medium density fiberboard. It's a patent-pending system made of 12 different parts that assemble with no tools. Since I'm one of those people who is flummoxed by Ikea assembly, I asked Justin how easy it is to assemble Grow. He said, "I would not call the assembly of Grow 'easy,' but it isn't hard…Instructions will be mostly illustrations as well as videos. You pretty much just put the parts in their place from the bottom up until you have the full assembly." 

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Although Grow is designed for stability, it could still topple over. Users who live in earthquake territory or have small children who might try to climb on Grow would want to secure it in place with earthquake straps (if they have it placed against a wall) or by drilling screws through the lowest shelves and into the floor (if they're using it as a partition). This is the standard safety advice I give to clients with bookshelves and similar furniture, and I appreciate that the Grow Kickstarter specifically mentions this.

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About the designer: I asked Justin how he got into furniture design, and he wrote: "I actually studied fine art at UC Santa Cruz, but strayed to design because I preferred making more practical things. I liked that good design could speak for itself and art took too much explaining or justifying. 

"I've been building and designing wood furniture in San Francisco professionally since 2000. A lot has been custom pieces that help fund my furniture designing habit. I run Godar Furniture not because I was born to be a businessman, but because it allows me the freedom to create whatever products I think should exist."