Man’s fire, the gods’ greatest gift. Forgive the overused metaphor, but I was as inspired as young Prometheus when I held hot fire in my hands, produced by my very own steel pocket lighter. A skinny eighteen-year-old takes on a serious swagger when he smokes a cigarette, and half of it happens right when he lights up.
Zippo Advertising 1959
Alice Waters (born 1944) is one of the unrivaled pioneers of California cuisine, owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, among the first US restaurants to promote locally grown, seasonally available, organically produced ingredients. While this now might seem a given, this philosophy was groundbreaking in 1971, when Waters first opened her restaurant.
Alice Waters at her Restaurant 1975
I was happy when I found these photos of the Telefunken Match transistor radio in the archive on the Delft University of Technology website. When transistor radios first came out in the mid 1950s, they were considered a status symbol. The very first one, the Texas Instruments Regency TR-1, cost more than 350 dollars by today’s standards.
Telefunken Match Transistor Radio 1963
Ah, the small squeak of the stopper against glass as you open a bottle of good wine, what could be more pleasing? Perhaps the subtle-spring in your heels as you walk across flooring from recycled wine stoppers? Or the dampened, acoustic softness that seems to seal out the noisy bustle of the world beyond? Yes, cork is a material that does it all, and does it well: it’s natural (derived from an evergreen oak, Quercus suber), beautiful, and regenerates quickly. Best of all, this wonder material is making a comeback.
Book From 1909
Dishtowels, with their no-nonsense pattern design (that blue/white or red/white check or plaid or stripe has endured for decades) and soft texture (the finest are usually 50 percent cotton/50 percent linen), are not only nostalgic (lay one over that apple pie while it cools!) but well… handy. You can clean up messes, dry things, spray your cleaner and wipe away stains.
50% Cotton-50% Linen Kitchen Towel
Stainless steel is a material that’s easy to fall in love with. It is sleek, shiny, strong, doesn’t flake or wear-off and has a nice smooth feel to it. And stainless steel’s beauty is long-lasting, which it owes to its most notable characteristic – it doesn’t rust. Stainless steel has brought such vast changes to industries as automotive, aviation, food, machinery and medicine that it can easily be called the metal of the 21st century.
IBM 1440 with Stainless Steel Front Panel 1963
‘The good life is never stable, never secure, never easy and never ended. It is a series of steps or stages, one leading into the other and all, in their outcome, adding, not subtracting; augmenting, not diminishing; building, not destroying; creating, not annihilating.’ – Scott Nearing, 1965
Helen & Scott Nearing
I found these great vintage Swiss military bread bags at an Army-Navy surplus store the other day. Amazingly well-made. I was immediately drawn to them aesthetically, and seeing how I’ve been building up a vintage Italian road bike as of late, I thought they’d be perfect candidates for panniers.
Vintage Swiss Army Bread Bag
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Happy Holidays
Wildcat, New Hampshire / Courtesy of Wildcat Mountain