HIDDEN x Craighill Available Now
Why the Brooklyn brand's novelty home goods are a cut above.
There’s a beauty in executing something relatively simple in a novel way. It’s been a guiding ethos from influential designers like Dieter Rams, and reflected in modern icons of design like Apple, Braun, and Eames. It’s no secret that it’s also been a big inspiration for the HIDDEN design language.
Perfecting the existing isn’t about reinventing the wheel, but getting people to look at the wheel in a completely different way. It’s a similar philosophy held by the team at Craighill, a design studio established in Brooklyn a little over a decade ago by Hunter Craighill.
Injecting a welcome dose of maximalism into otherwise minimal, functional objects, one of their big standout pieces is the Chroma Scissors, a colorful pair of stainless steel shears with vinyl-dipped rings and a ceramic coating. The result is a pair of scissors you can’t wait to use, cleverly using form as a way to get people hyped up about the function.
Craighill is also no stranger to making things that toe the line between objet d’art, fun collectible, and limited-edition collaboration. They teamed up with A24 a few years ago to create a surprisingly hefty paperweight designed after Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, the adorable stop-motion character from the film of the same name.
Even more recently, A24 tapped Craighill again to make a trippy lava lamp inspired by the film Death of a Unicorn. All of that is to say they have managed to find a unique balance between product that works and design that embraces a fun, adventurous spirit. Perhaps that’s why some of their more popular products aren’t even functional in the classic sense—but are literally toys that double as interesting items to keep on a desk or in an office.
To get more insight on the design process behind the minds at Craighill, considering listening to this episode of the Unit Economics podcast featuring co-founder Zach Fried.
Bearing all that in mind, as part of today’s release there are a few objects made in collaboration with Craighill. In addition to the HIDDEN x Craighill scissors, but also a special edition of Craighill’s Spinning Tracer Tops.
With a design inspired by a droplet of rain colliding with a larger body of water, it’s also been engineered to provide longer, more satisfying spins. The colored pips on the top provide grip for spin control but also give a fun visual effect while in motion, so owners are free to live out their Inception-style fantasies in the real world.