Suitcase With Built-In Shelves Is Basically Magic

When I’m packing for a trip, I spend way too much time arranging every single item I’m taking with me for maximum space efficiency, folding, rolling, and cramming my stuff into a complicated puzzle that only I understand. (It should come as no surprise that Tetris is my favorite video game). And then, of course, when I arrive at my destination, I pull everything out, and can never again figure out the magical arrangement that let me fit all of my crap in my suitcase in the first place. So it goes without saying that this suitcase with built-in shelves is fascinating to me.

Dubbed the “ShelfPack” by inventor and software engineer Ken McKaba, this suitcase comes with four stacking shelves. The design is fairly simple: To use the ShelfPack, you unzip the suitcase, raise two telescoping supports, and lift the fabric shelves, hooking the handles over the supports. When you’ve filled the shelves, you unhook them and collapse them into the suitcase. Pretty simple, right?

On his Kickstarter page for the ShelfPack, McKaba explains how he came up with the idea:

On a long business trip several years ago I dreamed up ShelfPack while digging through my luggage day after day. I envisioned shelves that would keep my stuff organized and do away with rummaging and packing and unpacking my entire suitcase at every stop.

At home I started tinkering with the idea, I dismantled old luggage for parts and even sewed shelves myself. Along the way I experimented with multiple variations and prototypes: taking them on business and family trips to test them out and loaning them to friends for their feedback. My wife traveled through Europe with an early prototype.

The ShelfPack is already in production, and the product’s Kickstarter campaign, which aims to increase production and fund further development, allows people to purchase this magical suitcase at a discounted rate. Watch this video to see the ShelfPack in action:

Images: ShelfPack/Kickstarter (3)