This pretty toolbox is designed for beginning DIYers

In 2020, Lainy Hedaya Hoffstein was assembling an Ikea table in her driveway when it dawned on her: tools in her hands didn’t reflect her identity as a designer. “I felt like the tools I was using from these very big brands were very clunky,” she recalls, likening them to “old machismo” tools that belong in a workshop.

Five years later, the designer-turned-entrepreneur has transformed that eureka moment into a new tool brand called Tinkr. Launching today, online and in Target nationwide, Tinkr bills itself as a brand for the average DIY-er. There’s a hanging kit, a wall patch kit, and a painting kit, all priced around the $20 mark. But the real star is a stylish $80 toolbox that comes in navy and the now-obligatory sage, and wouldn’t look out of place in your living space—next to your sexy dumbbells and your sexy broom.

Inside, Hoffstein has outfitted every tool with the kind of soft-grip thermoplastic rubber (TPR) you would find on a smart phone case, and tweaked some tools so they fit more comfortably in smaller hands. The hammer, for example, has a divet to guide the placement of your thumb, while the shaft grows thicker towards the end of the handle for better control. There’s even a rest for your phone or tablet inside the box, “because let’s be honest, most people follow DIY tutorials on a screen these days,” says Hoffstein.

Skeptics might write off Tinkr as aesthetics posturing—the level comes with a blue mineral spirit instead of a yellow one “because it didn’t really vibe.” But for Hoffstein, the design upgrades were necessary to make DIY projects seem more approachable. Her message: “If you can cook, you can DIY.”

A booming market with a gap

The DIY movement has come a long way over the past decade. Fueled by the global pandemic and lockdowns that kept us stuck at home, staring at the imperfections on our walls, the global market for DIY home improvement today is worth about $861 billion. The trend is expected to keep growing, with the market reaching $1.2 trillion by 2031.

Hoffstein declined to share projected revenue, but she has done market research and surveyed enough DIY influencers to know there is a gaping hole waiting to be filled. The problem, it seems, is rooted in both design and marketing mistakes. She says the tools that populate home improvement stores today are “overly engineered,” “aggressively masculine,” and uncomfortably bulky in ways that can drive people away from DIY projects. Historically, these tools have been geared towards contractors and professionals, alienating the “home DIY” persona that was born during the pandemic.

She might be onto something. According to a survey by AtomRadar for Fast Company, 35% of the 500-plus people surveyed said they have felt uncomfortable, intimidated, or excluded while shopping for DIY tools. Men were as likely to feel intimidated as women.

Overall, a lack of approachable information was the biggest contributor to feelings of exclusion or discomfort, with 54% of people identifying this as a factor. But 30% of participants said that product design specifically contributed to a feeling of exclusion, while while 29% chalked it up to marketing or branding. (Tinkr is launching with a library of how-to videos on its socials, as well as on Target’s website. All you have to do is scan the QR code that comes on the paper sleeve the toolbox comes in.)

Of course, the team runs the risk that a new DIYer, who has no idea where to start, would look to established brands that have already built trust with consumers. Some, like Dremel, recently began catering to the home DIYer, too. But Hoffstein believes that people would choose Tinkr instead because—established or not—these brands are still making tools that look inaccessible.

“[DYI] is a lot easier than people think and because of the way the tool industry has presented itself, it makes everything look intimidating,” says Hoffstein. “I want to break that.”