I first met Hans when I started working at ThinkGeek. Back then, he was maker of things crazy and wild. Some of it was out there, some of it didn’t exactly sell, but it was always executed with a mad passion that was inspiring. Unassuming and quiet, a conversation with Hans always left you feeling like you’d just had your intellect boosted, your fervor for invention renewed. I don’t know many people that can do that to you, but Hans is one of them.
But before I talk to you about his kickstarter, let me back up a second. Growing up, I always had my collections. Not quite museums, but collections – the fossil collection, the stamp collection, etc. Little bits of collected history, both human and natural, shelved and cataloged, if only in my head, for future enjoyment. There’s a mindset there, one that even my cluttered present appreciates and remembers fondly. I even mentioned that recently when I talked about getting a piece of Mars and the Moon of my own.
And now there’s Hans’ kickstarter, the Mini Museum. I knew Hans collected things – over the years he’d get packages that he’d save until the office was dark and quiet to open. He’d share opening them with me occasionally – fragments from a big meteorite impact being the most memorable – but I never knew it had a purpose.
Until now.
Hans has been putting this project together for as long as I’ve known him, and I didn’t even realize it until I saw it all together. A Mini Museum, the kind of catalog of histories natural and human that anyone can have on their desk or in their home. The natural philosophers would dedicate rooms in their homes to their collection. Hans’ kickstarter is offering you the same experience for the corner space on a single shelf. I don’t often have a personal connection to a kickstarter, but I also don’t often feel like I’d like to see something made as much as this. Help me help Hans make this real.
Thanks! (Here’s the link to his kickstarter one more time – Mini Museum)
