There are a handful of contemporary shops and designers that have drilled down into a certain analog simplistic utilitarian aesthetic. The output is good design of often now-overlooked simple products, products like rulers, hooks, axes, lamps and tools that don't seem to be ubiquitously designed with integrity or thought anymore. Shops and designers that celebrate, interpret, or create this style in at least some manner that come to mind are: Kiosk, Best Made, School House Electric, Kaufmann Mercantile, Scout Regalia, Brook Farm General Store, and now Hand-Eye Supply. They've been open in Portland since 2010, but never crossed my radar. I found them today while stumbling onto their site looking for Japanese tool boxes (as one does), and love their collection of utilitarian but well-designed products—even their crowbar is cool looking. It's as if they've scoured all the hardware stores all over the world and created the ultimate hardware store edit. Hand-Eye Supply, I'm a fan.
Photo of Emmylou Harris by Michael Ochs, 1970.