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The Swiss company Caran d’Ache sells writing utensils for the price you can buy a decent car. Their pens are made out of gold, diamonds, pearls and other fine materials. I’d be too worried running around with a pen like this, or even keeping it in my drawer. Caran d’Ache also makes this straightforward but fine ballpoint pen. It is made out of steel and has a replaceable ink cartridge. I bought it on my last trip to Europe for less then fifteen Euros.
Caran d'Ache Ballpoint Pen
Legend has it that sometime in the 16th century a Portuguese man was charged with witchcraft after showing samples of cloth, which had been made repellent with rubber. When you think about it, rubber really is pretty magical. Rubber seems like a modern product, but indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest have been using it for as long as 3500 years. Caoutchouc, it’s original name, was made into balls, figurines, bottles, fabric-coating and other products.
100% Natural Rubber / Goodyear Advertising 1918
I once suffered a ‘serious’ injury from a dysfunctional thumbtack. (Under pressure from my thumb, the needle lost its connection to the head and went out the other way). Since then I only use push-pins. They are easier to remove. The push-pin was invented around 1900 by Edwin Moore (1874 – 1916) in Newark, New Jersey. Moore worked at a photo lab and was missing a simple solution to hang up film to dry.
Moore Push-Pins
There are two simple tools that I use in my kitchen almost every day. One is a brush from Mexico with very thick natural bristles. It works great to clean out a cast iron steel pan. I don’t use it for anything else. The other one is a Japanese vegetable brush. It also has natural bristles which have a great feel to them. Both brushes are made of only two materials – the bristle and a steel wire. It can hardly get any simpler than that.
Japanese Vegetable Brush
Wooden Crates
You see vintage wooden crates everywhere at flea markets. Many vendors don’t sell them, but use them to carry their wares from the car to the booth, and back to the car. They don’t consider a crate as a nostalgic thing, imbued with some hidden beauty. It’s just a convenient way to schlep things around. From these people you can get the best deals on crates. Although, sometimes, they don’t want to give them up because they know it’s hard to find another box that sturdy.
Golden Glow Beer Crate
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