#HTE

Hooks Make Organizing Easy

As I’ve mentioned before, hooks are one of an organizer’s favorite tools because they make it so easy to put things away. So I’m always interested when a new design comes along, like the Lift from Ippinka, now available via Kickstarter.

Ippinka wanted to design a versatile hook that could hold everything from a bicycle to a cashmere scarf. The Lift will do just that, and flexibility is always a nice product feature.

But I wonder how many people would use this hook for both a bike and something else. If people come home at the end of the day and put their bikes away, they are unlikely to also use the Lift for something else like a coat. Therefore, they might prefer to have one of the many nice wall-mounted bike racks that are available (or use the Lift almost exclusively as a bike rack). They could then use other hooks, which wouldn’t need to be as long. And there are certainly plenty of other hooks available.

Peg style hooks are a simple design that can often work well. Many of these are made from various woods, but Naive Noir Furniture makes some from concrete. 

These hooks can hold quite a bit of weight, but they do need to be installed on walls like wood or masonry, not thin walls like plasterboard/drywall/gypsum.

Angled pegs like these from Cambridge Handcraft can help keep items from sliding off the hooks. With the rounded surfaces, there’s nothing to snag delicate knitted items.

The circular hook is another design that works well in many situations. Fort Standard provides them in three diameters, all with the same depth, so a combination of different sizes will still look good.

The basic curved hook can take on interesting forms. The Homestead Hook from Dominic Fiorello is made using a bent lamination technique. As Fiorello’s website explains: “Many thin American Walnut veneers are glued and bent over a smooth form. With clamps, pressure and time to dry, the basic curve is formed. After that it is up to templates, band saws and sanders to dial the final form into place.”

I appreciate that even with the notch that accommodates a keyring, this design still avoids any sharp edges. 

Aller-retour’s Astro hook combines a circular hook and a curved hook, giving the end user two different ways to hang things up. 

The tumbled stone hooks from Sea Stones also provide two mechanisms for hanging things: draping an item over the stone or threading something like a towel or scarf through the posts that mount the stone to the backplate. 

The Gym hook from Hay, designed by Staffan Holm, has somewhat more limited uses, but it provides an easy way to hang a towel or a scarf. It’s also designed to hold a hanger, but using a hanger undermines the whole “hooks are easier than hangers” advantage.

The Monsieur DressUp Collar from Loyal Loot, available in wood or leather, is a less-flexible hook than many others, but it works well for things like shirts, sweaters and robes. And it can also accommodate things like scarves and headphones.

While the Lift hook at the start of this post is flexible enough to serve a wide range of needs, this product is designed to serve more limited needs very well. That’s always going to be an interesting design trade-off.