“We make things that we ourselves need but struggle to find,” explain George Wilkins and William McCallum. The Tauranga, New Zealand–based duo connected in college, where the two business majors discovered a toolshed on campus and a shared love of tinkering. They sold their initial pieces outside the school library, and post-grad set up the George & Willy workshop in a boat shed.
That was just a few years ago and since then, they’ve been busy tackling all sorts of household basics, from pegboards to laundry racks: “the kinds of things you’d be stoked to find in your granddad’s shed,” they say. Join us for a look at George and Willy’s world.
Above: After coming across a discarded roll of kraft paper, the designers mounted it on their studio wall for making lists and sketches. It proved so useful that they produced a finished version: See Blank Slate: Wall-Mounted Kraft Paper. Above: Ideal for keeping to-do lists, the George & Willy Daily Roller, shown here and top, is the latest iteration of their best seller. It’s available in a range of sizes, and comes with powder-coated aluminum fittings in black or white. This one, with a 224-millimeter-long bracket (approximately 8.8 inches) is $103 USD, and includes a roll of brown paper and mounting screws. The rollers fit universal kraft paper rolls.
Above: Made of birch plywood, the Bang Bang Pegboard is sold as 1,000 millimeter (39.3 inch) squares that can be hung together. It’s available in natural or white and comes with eight removable dowels and two shelves (one short, one long); $243 USD. George & Willy designs are all made in the duo’s New Zealand studio and most flatpack for efficient shipping.
Above: The George & Willy Project Trestle Desk is made of architectural grade plywood; $287 USD. Locking slots hold the tabletop in place and the trestles are secured with black yachting rope. This design is only shipped within New Zealand and Australia. Above: The 1,6oo millimeter long (62.9 inch) Draughtsman Table can be used as a dining table, meeting table, or work station. It has a galvanized steel frame and a plywood top that’s finished with matte polyurethane; $360 USD, available only in New Zealand. A Coffee Table version of the design is currently sold out. Above: The George & Willy Commercial Clothing Rack, $250 USD, is composed of steel piping and socket clamps. It’s 1,800 millimeters long (70.8 inches) and comes in white or black powder-coated steel or galvanized steel. For a 1,400- millimeter (55.1 inch) version, check out the Industrial Clothing Rack. (Find other options in 10 Easy Pieces: Metal Clothing Racks and 10 Easy Pieces: Freestanding Wooden Clothing Racks.) Above: The duo devised their Hanging Drying Rack, $272 USD, when they needed a compact way to dry their laundry. Read about it in Object of Desire. For more international household basics, take a look at:
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
Or Subscribe for Maximum Value!
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Sorry! As a registered member you get 10 free posts from our archive (posts more than a year old) every 30 days. You have reached your limit for this 30-day period. If you would like to access unlimited posts from the archive (ad free, too), become a subscriber today, and keep reading as many articles as you want.
Full Access Individual Subscription
Benefits include:
Unlimited access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive the full-text daily newsletters
All features that Members have access to
Annual subscribers pay just 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Sorry! You have reached your limit of three (3) free posts from our archive every 30 days. You can increase this to 10 posts by joining as a free Member, or read unlimited posts with no ads by becoming a paid Subscriber.
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Become a Member at no charge
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Congratulations on becoming a Subscriber to Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Unlimited access to all three sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive any of the newsletters, including the the full-text daily Remodelista and Gardenista newsletters
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Congratulations on joining as a free Member of Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Access to all posts published in the past year
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
If at any time you want to become a Subscriber and enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to all our content, just go to the My Account link and choose Subscribe.
Have a Question or Comment About This Post?
Start the Conversation