Dezeen Magazine

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

These handmade electrical plugs allow you to plug a second appliance into the back.

Dutch designer Dave Hakkens noticed that appliances like fridges and boilers need to stay plugged in all the time so there's often a shortage of sockets for occasional use.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

His Sharing Plug eliminates the need for a tangle of multiple-socket extension leads or unplugging one device to use another.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

Hakkens sculpted the plug by hand, scanned it digitally and used the manipulated model to cast the casing in rubber so it's soft and flexible.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

He then made a rubber socket and standard plug in the same way, resulting in a range with a warmer aesthetic that their mass-produced plastic counterparts.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

Here's some more information from Hakkens:


Most of the products around us are made industrially. Although I am a big fan of craftsmanship I believe our world sometimes just needs products to be made industrially. To make the products produceable for machines they need a 3D file which is designed and drawn on the computer.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

Usually this is done entirely computer based. Products are starting to look the same and a personal details are lost.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

I wanted to make a technical product by hand but still produceable for the industry.

I did this combining old techniques & crafts with new technologies such special software and 3D scanning.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

I took a normal plug and a power socket. Usually these things haven't got any value.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

If for instance an electronic device doesn't work anymore the plug is also thrown away, even though it still works perfectly fine. I wanted to give the plug more value and make it less disposable, so when a electronic device is broken you disconnect the plug instead of throwing it away.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

Making of:

I started off by making a lot of different models and variaties. With this information I made the final models.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

Instead of designing them on the computer I made them completely by hand, after that I scanned the models in 3D and put them on the computer.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

I edited them, drew the technics inside and made the dimensions universal. Right now the file is 3D readable and usable for the industry. I used this file to make the final models in 3D.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

Now, they are made from rubber which gives them a soft feeling, allows the plug to bend in the direction of the cable and fits perfectly around cables with a 3 - 8 mm diameter.

Sharing Plug by Dave Hakkens

Handmade plugs, ready for the industry!