Former Nike designer Jeremy Saxton has developed the new Spool Dock for Apple devices that manages unruly cables while managing to fit seamlessly into a modern home environment. Photo: Lucy Call
Jeremy Saxton came up with this concept to solve his own problem—with four children and countless Apple devices he was looking for a way to quell the corded chaos in his home. Photo: Lucy Call
A simple mechanism allows users to turn the two pieces and retracts the cord in an elegant fashion. Saxton first prototyped the feature by cutting up an old piece of tupperware. Photo: Lucy Call
"The Lightning Connector will probably be around for another ten years," says Saxton. "I wanted to focus on creating a new kind of fixture in the home." Photo: Lucy Call
The Spool Dock is made of three key materials—a heavy, powder coated metal base to provide stability, a hardwood cap that protects the cable, and a pure Merino wool surface that protects the gadget. Photo: Lucy Call
Saxton employed an industrial design student at BYU to help fabricate the prototypes. "It was a lot of iteration, cutting them out of wood or MDF," says Saxton. "I'm trying to keep those old design habits alive." Photo: Lucy Call
Devices are safely held in place at a 17 degree angle by three points of contact and the soft wool surface limits wear and tear on the device near the connector. Photo: Lucy Call
"When you visit the Apple Store, they don't have their devices on cold aluminum tables," says Saxton. "They're laid on on these beautiful maple tables." Photo: Lucy Call
"Electronic devices are turning into objects that can be valuable and have heirloom quality," says Saxton. Photo: Lucy Call
Saxton started the project by asking "What if there was a brand concept or a line of products that played with the idea of bridging the gap between the hectic world of technology and the human side of life?" Photo: Lucy Call
"I have this maxim that lamps and modern objects are objects of the past," says Saxton. "They have not evolved along with technology, they've followed these two divergent paths and I see no reason why these paths can't intertwine and be one." Photo: Lucy Call
"I wanted it to be a simple, almost primitive design that called attention to the materials," says Saxton. Photo: Lucy Call
Saxton hopes that projects like the Spool Dock spur larger manufacturers like Crate & Barrel or BluDot to more fully embrace the idea of creating furniture that is optimized for our modern, gadget filled lifestyles. Photo: Lucy Call
The Spool Dock can accommodate a variety of different devices thicknesses. The two bars are mounted asymmetrically, and rotating their position by 180 degrees changes the size of the gap. Photo: Lucy Call
Saxton's goal is to create products that complement, not mimic, Apple's iconic devices. Photo: Lucy Call
The Spool Dock will be raising funds on Kickstarter until November 7th, 2013 and can be had for a pledge of $35. Photo: Lucy Call
Industrial designer Jeremy Saxton is a fan of minimal, modern furniture and filled his Salt Lake City home with a carefully balanced collection of design classics. After having four children, his tranquil environment was quickly being colonized by nests of bright white Lightning Cables belonging to his tech-savvy youngsters. He decided to use his skills, honed at Nike and HP, to solve the problem, and his first solution was an unsightly piece of hacked Tupperware. Dozens of iterations later, the result is the Spool Dock, a tasteful smartphone/tablet accessory that can corral unruly cables with just a few turns of the wrist.
The device is comprised of a sturdy, powder coated metal base, a hardwood cap, and a Merino wool pad to rest the electronic gadgets on. It was designed with Apple’s range of products in mind, but it has no internal electronic components and almost any USB-style power cable can be threaded through it. A pair of open-ended, parallel ridges accommodates smartphones and tablets of many sizes and have a secondary function as knobs that can be turned to retract the cable when it’s not in use. It is clever, compact, and a complete stylistic deviation from most smartphone docks.
Ex-Nike designer Jeremy Saxton believes electronic accessories can can be heirloom quality objects that get better with time. Photo: Lucy Call
“I wanted it to be a simple, almost primitive design that called attention to the materials,” says Saxton. He points out that the market is flooded with iPhone accesories, but that most of them are trying to mimic Apple’s products rather than compliment them. This puts small designers into the nearly impossible position of achieving the same level of finish that Apple manages—a hopeless task even for the best funded Kickstarter campaigns.
Saxton found his muse in decor, not digital goods.
Saxton found his muse in decor, not digital goods. “When you visit the Apple Store, they don’t have their devices on cold aluminum tables,” says Saxton. “They’re laid on on these beautiful, warm maple tables.” That led him to wonder if there was room for a line of products that bridged the gap between the hectic world of technology and the more human side of life. Currently, furniture stores sell beautifully crafted furniture on their show floors and tech gadgets as afterthoughts near the cash register, but offer few products that combine the best of both worlds.
“I have this maxim that lamps and modern objects are objects of the past,” says Saxton. “They have not evolved along with technology. They’ve followed these two divergent paths and I see no reason why these paths can’t intertwine and be one.” He ultimately sees an entire range of products, and even new kinds of home goods, that fully integrate our digital and domestic lives—if he can get this project funded.
The Spool Dock is Saxton’s second Kickstarter. His first, an admittedly gimmicky headphone concept built around the iPod Shuffle, received huge amounts of attention, but few pledges. He feels that this project is a much more authentic and useful product, but its subtlety makes it difficult to stand out on the crowdfunding site. Still, with over a month to go, he hopes to crack a modest $85,000 goal. “I’m not the most money hungry guy,” he says. “I don’t care if it doesn’t make a million dollars; I just want it to be made.”
The Spool Dock can be had for a $35 pledge and will be raising money until November 7, 2013.
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