About us - The Story of KerKits

Contact: You can email us at  info@kerkits.com

I have always had this urge to build something.  "What?", someone might ask.  "I don't know, but something" I would have to respond. At one point, I stumbled on a copy of "The Robot Builder's Bonanza" by Gordon McComb.  I read it cover to cover and it provided that push I needed to turn an urge into action.  

I have been building stuff passionately since then.  I started with cardboard and duct tape creations, and along the way picked up other skills, and higher standards.  I build for fun, to satisfy that creative urge.  Several years after reading McComb, I made a project in wood as part of research for an historical novel (another project), and some friends suggested that I make them and sell them.  So my hobby became a side gig business.  I've been doing that since 2012, when I launched my first project on kickstarter.com (click here to see my project page on kickstarter).  That project sold over 600 units of the Desktop Ballista. Since then, I've added 3 other products and have many others planned.  My wife, Megan joined me in the shop and together we produce every kit ourselves.  We still make the Desktop Ballista.

Today, I still love to build stuff.  "What?"  someone might ask.  But now, instead of "I don't know", my response is a flood gate. "An automaton that reminds me of catching fish by hand while on a trip to Vietnam, or a desk that raises from sitting height to standing height using recycled milk jugs filled with water as counterweights, or a..."  I have more projects planned and interests than I have time to create them.

With the maker movement today, it is easier to build "something", but it still takes a spark to turn urge into action.  I like to think that one of the kits I sell might help someone else that has the urge, but not the inspiration that leads to action.

- Kerwin (hence the name, KerKits) Lumpkins