Box Lab (Manhattan, Kansas)

The blessing (or curse) of being an academic is that whenever I am talking to a small business, business association or local government about their activities, I am always comparing their practices with economic development theory. When I went to visit Christopher Spaw at Box Lab I was contemplating Adam Smith’s pin factory and how businesses increase productivity. Smith’s basic thesis is that the more stuff a community can make per person, the more prosperous the community is and a community can accomplish this by specializing. Smith’s famous example is the pin factory where, he says, one person can make one pin a day if he is to do each of the steps himself. If 8 people work at it, each focusing on a different step in making the pin (one person stretches the wire, one person cuts the wire, another sharpens it, another adds the head, etc.) they can make 1,000 pins a day. Specialization has increased to the degree that it is not one person dedicated to stretching the wire but one company. Another company cuts the wire and another assembles the pin. Within each of those companies, people focus on even more specialized tasks.

And then I walk in to Box Lab. Box Lab is part architectural office, part contractor, part landlord, part retail shop, part building material dealer; in short, the opposite of specialization. Christopher says it evolved this way because he wanted to demonstrate possibilities. As an architect, his design aesthetic evolved in a European context. He designed summer homes for Norwegian clients, drew inspiration from European cities. But he is a K-State grad and wanted to bring innovative modern design and cutting edge materials to Kansas. And not the bustling, metropolitan Kansas City but two hours west, in little ol’ Manhattan.

Box Lab began as a specialist, a modern architectural office. Christopher designed buildings that were modern and environmentally responsible. Then the client would have to find someone to build the building and find a supplier of the innovative and technologically advanced materials such as the Quad-Lock insulated concrete forms or the Alpen windows. In the middle of Kansas, that can be difficult. But Christopher located here because he believed that Kansans should have access to the same forward thinking design that is available in Europe or big US cities. Box Lab began building the buildings themselves and became a distributor for many of the materials used in the building. Now the client can get the building they want and get it at a lower cost than if they order each component separately.

Christopher said he wanted, “in a small-scale way to showcase what can be done, what we are talking about.” He is not just talking about a modern design aesthetic. He is talking about creating buildings that are environmentally responsible, have lower utility bills, resist fire and natural disasters. People come to Box Lab for many reasons. Opening the storefront on Poyntz Avenue (the main business district in Manhattan) and expanding their product lines is another way to reach people. They may come into the store for the Luceplan light fixtures or the Vola faucets. The store captures their imagination about what is possible in their home. Sometimes it leads to a remodeling project or addition. Other times it leads to ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the jewelry by Susan Richter-O’Connell.

How does a place like Box Lab fit into the quest for higher productivity? They do not specialize in a product but they do specialize in an idea. They demonstrate that my house does not have to be a sieve for warm air. I can protect my home and family from disaster. Our house can be designed for the ebb and flow of contemporary family life. Without the vision, without the research in and access to pioneering design that Box Lab provides, I may never know what is possible. “If you can show people other options, then they say, ‘yes, I get it.’” Christopher said.

 
When my family was in town last month, we visited Box Lab because my mother-in-law wanted to get some of the Haba toys for her (almost 9!) grandchildren. My parents, in the middle of a kitchen remodel were ogling the Miele appliances. Having downsized his tool collection, my brother-in-law was captivated by the Festool line of tools, and contemplated immediately rebuilding. My daughter, though 3, wanted to hold the Iittala glassware (and I followed her around repeating, “Look with your eyes, please.”) Box Lab began as an architectural office and became a curator of modern life.