Sport climbing was the flavour of the day and we were all pushing grades and digging the tiny gear racks and short approaches.

As a product designer I was always had a pile of raw materials stacking up around my desk. One afternoon I took some fiberglass rod, and some web, some cord and a few cool fasteners from ITW Nexus and put together a couple of different versions of what is now the Love Handle. I gave them to Don and Craig and Mike and they just worked.

Somewhere along the line I lost mine, or maybe just forgot it in the bottom of a bin.

There were a lot of distractions back then, relationships, kids, homes, changing jobs and a double handful of years slipped by.

Hanging out one day with my buddy Don, he reached into his sack and pulled out one of the OG Love Handles. Turns out his had been in regular service all these years. He held it up, full of draws and said I really should do something with the idea.

That was the time I was looking for a product that I could build, sell and grow a little business organically. Lots of computer models and prototypes later the modern Love Handle came to be.

Designing a single product is a far cry from designing the method of manufacture and all the tooling and processes required.  Elegance comes when it all gets simple.