One resource familiar to most American product designers is McMaster-Carr – a catalog-based hardware supplier with a mind-blowing selection of more than 480,000 products. Whatever might be needed to build a prototype, McMaster-Carr probably has it. To celebrate, a number of notable designers developed new objects for this year’s edition of McMasterpieces, an exhibition where all the products on view are built exclusively from McMaster-Carr parts. The show is part of the off-site festivities happening in the NoHo Design District.
Interior design firm Roman and Williams came up with a desk, stool, shelving unit, and swing-arm lamp, which look like machine-age curiosities. Product designer Alissia Melka-Teichroew designed elegant baskets from leather strapping, which feature bright yellow handles. David Weeks offered a surprisingly stunning pendant lamp constructed with growler beer bottles. And Bec Brittain created a handsome chess set where the individual pieces are made from fastener bits like wingnuts, lock washers, and knurled screws. Utilitarian hardware never looked so sophisticated.