Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com: You likely have one of Ben Rivera’s designs in your pocket or on your keychain right now. If not, he’s hoping to put one there. This is where Leatherman came from and where it’s going with new, wearable tools like the Tread.
4 comments:
Kimberly McSweeney
said...
This article is super interesting because I have never thought of one brain behind all of the cool multitools out there. I have never put a person to a tool, let alone a face and voice and experience to that person. Seeing the development and creativity put into each multitool is really cool to see, being familiar with most of the Leatherman products. Another shell shocker for me is that this man worked with the Mr. Leatherman, like. The guy. That invented. Leathermans. It is just so much stuff that I’ve never really thought about before, all of these origin stories of products and tools that I and my colleagues use on a daily basis. I am also flabbergasted by the small number of people and the one location worked at by the Leatherman company. 500 workers doesn’t seem like nearly enough people to pull in a 100 million dollar revenue every year, but they do it somehow.
This was an extremely interesting article because I never stopped to think about the origin of where my tools come from. I got my first Leatherman in college because my father recommended it, having carried one with him (that my mother bought him) for several years. It surprised me how recently the company began manufacturing its different varieties of multitools, and knowing that this one man designed most of them is shocking. I really identified with his stories about not knowing when it would be good to bring along his multitool in public places. My first multitool was an old keychain-sized Swiss Army Knife that I once accidentally brought to an amusement park, and when I saw security checking people over, I panicked and hid it in a plant outside the park, which was the last I saw of that multitool. Since then I've usually only carried full-sized tools with me for crew during school, but even then it's been a balance of whether that's allowed or if carrying tools could be considered dangerous or a threat even if they're for work purposes only. It is interesting to hear, however, that even the president of a multimillion-dollar multitool company doesn't always know when it's appropriate to carry his multitool in public.
I really identified with the part of the article when he was talking about not the ever shifting list of places its acceptable to carry a multi tool. For me personally its not uncommon that I’ll be walking around with a Leatherman. I don’t consider it a weapon, to me its a tool that has a multitude of uses, especially in theater. I would’ve had the same reaction as Ben Riviera if I was told that the blade in my Leatherman makes it a weapon. However, I know there are places and people (especially TSA) that don’t agree with me. I get the need for safety, and I’ll happily acquiesce to it and leave my tools behind but it would be nice if there could some stability in what is considered acceptable. If only because at this point I’m so used to having it on my belt that I don’t think when I’m going places. Fortunately, this hasn’t come back to bite me yet but its happened to multiple members of my family and I’m sure it’ll happen to me at some point too. There’s a difference between someone trying to bring a knife to an airport or school and being used to carrying a multi tool and forgetting to not carry it one day.
It is pretty cool to see how one guy worked his way up to running one of the most prominent tool companies in the country. He started as just another employee and his boss saw his potential and gave him more responsibility. I was shocked by 3 things in this article. The first being how young the leatherman tool is. I thought this brand had been around for years and years. Next, I am shocked that one man pretty much designed it all. I am assuming he got assistance and advice from others but from the sound of it he came up with the design and did most of the work for it. There must be a lot of pressure on him to come up with and make designs that are exactly what people want to keep in their pocket all day every day. The third surprise was that Leatherman is the founders last name. I just didn’t even think about it, with words like Leather and Man making up this tool companies name I kind of just assumed it was a made up name.
4 comments:
This article is super interesting because I have never thought of one brain behind all of the cool multitools out there. I have never put a person to a tool, let alone a face and voice and experience to that person. Seeing the development and creativity put into each multitool is really cool to see, being familiar with most of the Leatherman products. Another shell shocker for me is that this man worked with the Mr. Leatherman, like. The guy. That invented. Leathermans. It is just so much stuff that I’ve never really thought about before, all of these origin stories of products and tools that I and my colleagues use on a daily basis. I am also flabbergasted by the small number of people and the one location worked at by the Leatherman company. 500 workers doesn’t seem like nearly enough people to pull in a 100 million dollar revenue every year, but they do it somehow.
This was an extremely interesting article because I never stopped to think about the origin of where my tools come from. I got my first Leatherman in college because my father recommended it, having carried one with him (that my mother bought him) for several years. It surprised me how recently the company began manufacturing its different varieties of multitools, and knowing that this one man designed most of them is shocking. I really identified with his stories about not knowing when it would be good to bring along his multitool in public places. My first multitool was an old keychain-sized Swiss Army Knife that I once accidentally brought to an amusement park, and when I saw security checking people over, I panicked and hid it in a plant outside the park, which was the last I saw of that multitool. Since then I've usually only carried full-sized tools with me for crew during school, but even then it's been a balance of whether that's allowed or if carrying tools could be considered dangerous or a threat even if they're for work purposes only. It is interesting to hear, however, that even the president of a multimillion-dollar multitool company doesn't always know when it's appropriate to carry his multitool in public.
I really identified with the part of the article when he was talking about not the ever shifting list of places its acceptable to carry a multi tool. For me personally its not uncommon that I’ll be walking around with a Leatherman. I don’t consider it a weapon, to me its a tool that has a multitude of uses, especially in theater. I would’ve had the same reaction as Ben Riviera if I was told that the blade in my Leatherman makes it a weapon. However, I know there are places and people (especially TSA) that don’t agree with me. I get the need for safety, and I’ll happily acquiesce to it and leave my tools behind but it would be nice if there could some stability in what is considered acceptable. If only because at this point I’m so used to having it on my belt that I don’t think when I’m going places. Fortunately, this hasn’t come back to bite me yet but its happened to multiple members of my family and I’m sure it’ll happen to me at some point too. There’s a difference between someone trying to bring a knife to an airport or school and being used to carrying a multi tool and forgetting to not carry it one day.
It is pretty cool to see how one guy worked his way up to running one of the most prominent tool companies in the country. He started as just another employee and his boss saw his potential and gave him more responsibility. I was shocked by 3 things in this article. The first being how young the leatherman tool is. I thought this brand had been around for years and years. Next, I am shocked that one man pretty much designed it all. I am assuming he got assistance and advice from others but from the sound of it he came up with the design and did most of the work for it. There must be a lot of pressure on him to come up with and make designs that are exactly what people want to keep in their pocket all day every day. The third surprise was that Leatherman is the founders last name. I just didn’t even think about it, with words like Leather and Man making up this tool companies name I kind of just assumed it was a made up name.
Post a Comment