About

This project came out of years of hardware store tourism. Visiting hardware stores in foreign countries is particularly enjoyable. The simple, utilitarian objects are triumphs of design - brass hooks, overalls, power cords, tape measures and block planes haven’t changed much in the last decades and serve us as well as they ever have. As one who appreciates where and how things are made, you can often delight in the provenance of a Japanese pull saw, a German level and dish drying rack made in the countryside of the UK.

Hardware Store of My Dreams is a collection of products that I love and feel are worthy of recognition and even celebration. Liberties are taken, many of the mundane staples are left out but all of the items are special and would be a wonderful surprise to come across. I champion objects that are made by companies with a long domestic manufacturing linage, add in way more apparel than you are accustomed to seeing and dig deep into the catalogs of companies that manufacture things like powder coated bookends for libraries. I hope you take inspiration from it all and do your best to order these things from local retailers or outfits whose stocks are not publicly traded box store behemoths.

My name is Barrett Purdum and you are into this project or have a good idea for an item to list, you can contact me at hardwarestoreofmydreams@gmail.com