Potential: The Driving Force Behind Our Creations

When I was about 8 years old, my dad came home and announced that he had a huge surprise for us. He and my mom pushed a monstrous cardboard box in front of my brother, my sister, and I, exclaiming “we bought us a big screen TV!” Keep in mind this was long before the days of paper thin LED TV’s that have about as much packaging as Instant Ramen. My dad carefully slipped the box off of the television, and although we were initially wide-eyed about the TV, our excitement quickly waned as the adults in the room struggled to get the now archaic beast powered on.

Our short attention spans quickly turned to the giant cardboard box in the middle of the room. My siblings and I promptly got to work, grabbing markers, tape, scissors (of the safety variety), and transformed the box into something new. Over the next couple of weeks, the box morphed from fort, to rocket ship (with Styrofoam wings), to submarine, and finally to a “Time Masheen”. All the while my dad looked on in disdain because we valued this box more than the technological marvel it contained.

Why did we find so much entertainment in a cardboard box? Because for us, it was anything we wanted it to be. With some simple cuts, a little color, and creative thinking, we transformed it on a whim. Hop in the “Time Masheen” to 2015, and I find myself with a group of like-minded people standing in front of that box again – turning it this way and that, folding down walls, trying to figure out what we can transform it into. This new box is made from steel, but offers just as much creative inspiration.

The shipping container was designed for the purpose of storage and transport, but we’ve found that it has so much more potential than that. The modular design of containers offers the potential to build almost anything – a blank canvas in three dimensions. And although it takes a few more tools than markers and scotch tape, we’ve built everything from restaurants, to retail, to offices, to interactive experiences, and more, all from a metal box.

Digital screens of today have gotten much smaller than when I was a kid, and it can often be difficult to get people to look up from them. That’s why it’s important to be not just eye-catching, but adaptable as well. Our designs are intended for the end-user, what are their needs, and how will they change? Shipping Containers start as an empty metal shell, but have the potential to be anything you need, whether it’s a retail space, a trade show booth… or maybe even a rocket ship.