Tomato Crates
Co-Partner Design Experience
Introduction & goal
This project was the result of a partnership with a nonprofit organization called “We the People Farms”. This organization assists with the training and employment of people who were previously incarcerated. They were experiencing an issue of having their tomatoes damaged in transport and they requested for our team to develop a system of transport for these tomatoes that was modular, easy to carry, and protective. The challenge yielded us these transportable tomato crates.
Process & Experience
For this project I worked in a team of 3 other designers. This was the first project where I worked with a team of designers to solve a problem. We quickly attacked sketching and brainstorming possible mechanisms that could be used to devise a crate that would interlock with itself when stacked. After prototyping some of the best initial designs from the group, my design was selected as best suited for the task at hand.
We then went straight to production. After milling our own lumber, we had to build 60 crates for our partner within a tight deadline. This was especially difficult because most of the team hadn’t worked in the woodshop very much. Making the crates required approximately 200 hours of combined labor.
The Outcome
We completed our 60 crates on time and our partner was ecstatic with the results. We didn’t get to hear an update on how the crates impacted their productivity unfortunately. I am proud of the work that I did on the team since I was the youngest but still contributed substantially to the success of the project. I learned a lot about delegating work and working with clients that I had not had experience with before.
Credits
Designer and Craftsman- Chaz Dunselman