A felt home. Central Aisa, circa 1910.
Felt is said to be the oldest man-made material: its story goes back 8,000 years. It’s used in everything from carpets to garments to chalkboard erasers. Felt is basically the matted fibers of sheep, so it has all the virtues of wool — warm, waterproof, resilient, durable — but denser, more compact and much more versatile. It is extremely adaptable and can be made with little more than a pair of hands for tools.
In this ever-advancing modern era, where the mantra of the zeitgeist is “better, faster, cheaper,” Danny Hillis — inventor of the supercomputer that instigated our current fast-paced society — beseeches us to slow down, twiddle our thumbs and smell the roses. Hillis has been working since 1996 on a monument-sized clock to be sited on a limestone cliff in eastern Nevada, dubbed the Clock of the Long Now. This clock is nothing like your average wristwatch. The Clock of the Long Now will be large enough for visitors to walk around in and is designed to last 10,000 years — roughly the period in which humans enjoy a relatively constant climate and advancements in culture and technology. It will tick only once a year, bong once a century and cuckoo at the millennium, a pace Hillis hopes will inspire society to think in terms of decades, centuries and millennia, as opposed to the prevailing harried New York minute.
A young Danny Hillis hard at work at his connections machine console.
Basket weaving is the oldest and most widespread art in the history of human civilization; from Native Americans to diverse African clans to the American Shakers, many cultures have practiced this art over the centuries in their own unique, characteristic manner. Materials utilized for baskets include reed (also known as rattan), oak, hickory, willow, grass, animal hide, hair and byproducts like porcupine quills, various woods, grasses and stems—basically anything that can be plied, bent and woven.
Hunters carrying Adirondack pack baskets, courtesy of Adirondack History Museum
Sheep have gotten an undeserved baa-d rap. Besides loathsome puns, the saying “dumb as sheep” has been a longstanding colloquialism for stupidity, a common misunderstanding of the flock mentality that serves as a defense against predators. Studies have proved the species to be smarter than previously thought, with particular skills in facial recognition. Dolly, famous for being the world’s first cloned mammal in 1996, rendered sheep (at least in the eyes of the fearful) symbols of science gone wrong. Hailed as a scientific breakthrough, Dolly also incited heated controversy over implications for humankind and cloning. In 2007, Dr. Charles Roselli’s research on gay sheep was thwarted by animal and human rights groups over an unfounded — but highly publicized — fear of imminent sexual eugenics.
Jean Seberg in cables, Image from Suzi-Souchi.
Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) famously said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” This same principle — the sumptuousness of the raw material seeming to spiritually guide and coax the artist’s hand — is at work in artist and designer Alexandre Noll’s wood sculptures, furniture and household objects.
African Black Soap
Women making shea butter in Ivory Coast, West Africa.
Traditionally produced in areas across West Africa, especially Ghana and Togo, African black soap is a multi-purpose cleanser that can be used on the entire body. It’s been used to remedy everything from acne (and its attendant scarring), to allaying the discomforts of eczema and psoriasis, alleviating dandruff and itchy scalp, and reducing fine lines and wrinkles.
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