Harry Allen in Hong Kong: A Peek at How Popjects are Made!

Harry Allen's hand hooks for Areaware

Sometimes you just need a hand! Right now, I’m travelling a bit, and so I can’t quite fulfill my duty of delivering you the daily dose of procrastination design inspiration to which you have become accustomed. Never fear, things will return to “normal” again later this week. In the meantime, please feel free to follow along on my adventures and observations with your phone and Instagram (@jeremyriad) or your computer and Webstagram. With that out of the way, I’d like to make up for these deep-fried gadgets with this.

Harry Allen making hand hooks in Hong Kong

In a random moment of wi-fi, I enjoyed reading the latest installment of Designer Dailies with Harry Allen on Design Milk. The series presents a ‘day in the life of’ a designer, and in this case, it’s Harry Allen of pigs, peanuts, and pick-up trucks fame. Harry Allen is easily one of the most popular popjects designers around. Why just the other day, Ryan Rutherford of Brutherford Industries, referred to Allen’s pig banks as his go-to wedding gift! It turns out that Allen’s hand hooks are equally popular, and so Areaware sent the designer to Hong Kong to cast his own hands for two new gadget grabbers.

Harry Allen making hand hooks in Hong Kong

And in 3-2-1: Harry Allen? Don’t you mean HAIRY Allen? Allen’s travel diary is raw and honest and interesting and amusing. I liked this bit:

Here the master mold-maker pours the silicone into the mold. I must sit for two hours to wait for it to harden. Fortunately I have two unwatched seasons of Downton Abbey to keep me busy.

Allen explains the “saddening” move from manufacturing in a New York-based factory to a Chinese factory, but he doesn’t elaborate on why he needs to go to Hong Kong to do the actual hand-casting. Excuse my French, but I can’t help thinking that I know several talented American master mold-makers who could give Allen a handy in a less hoopty looking mold before Daisy could yell “Mrs. Padmore!”

Harry Allen's hand hooks for Areaware

If you understood that last sentence, I salute you. Either way, three recommendations: Read the rest of Harry Allen’s Designer Daily here. Grab the new iPhone and Universal Hand Docks (along with any of Allen’s other great popjects) here. Press play on the following musical pairing, return to the top, and re-read this eloquent blog post. Cheers!

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