One of nature’s very useful materials, horn (Ox, Buffalo, Stag, Ram and Bison) has historically been utilized in a number of applications. As seen here, it’s a material particularly suited to spoons. A true connoisseur of caviar and soft-boiled egg eating will tell you, nothing taints the flavor like metal, and horn offers an unrivalled purity of taste.
Paper has been a key factor in communication and learning and can be traced back to 3000 BC. In those days, Egyptian craftsman cut the stems of the djet or tjufi plant (papyrus in Greek), a tall freshwater reed belonging to a group of plants known in Biblical references as bulrushes. The Egyptians cut the reed into thin strips, softened them in the muddy waters of the Nile, then layered them in right angles. They then pounded the mat into a thin sheet and left it out to dry in the sun. It was clearly a labor-intensive affair, and most likely won the respect of producers and consumers alike; for this reason, it was saved for very important records, fine art, and religious texts.
Image by John Hubbard
Time often functions as a test of a material’s worth, its usefulness in the grand scheme of things. The practicality and lasting relevance of materials like wood, wool, metal reach far back into our history, better equipping humanity for our spritely sprint towards inevitable obsolescence. While as awesome and as taken for granted as many fundamental building blocks for existence are, when taking a closer look at the less thoroughly appreciated, less obvious contenders, little revelations rear their heads, perhaps none more than porcelain.
Cockatoo by Johann Joachim Kändler, Meissen Porcelain, 1734 / Rijksmuseum, Neatherlands
In a time when it was unthinkable for a man to leave the house without his hat, it was just as unthinkable to leave without a pocket knife. Small, lightweight and high quality pocket knives were also called gentlemen’s knives and fit perfectly in the pocket of a suit, trousers or even a dress shirt.
Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Connecticut
What is the crowning glory of your civilization… the symbol as clear a statement as the pyramids, the Parthenon, the cathedrals? What is this symbol? What is its name?
Its name is Junk.
Junk is the rusty, lovely, brilliant symbol of the dying years of your time. Junk is your ultimate landscape. - George Nelson, 1965
George Nelson Design for Herman Miller Clock Company, Circa 1950
Since I am still in search of a good butcher in LA (alas, none to be found!) - I am finding myself delving further into the dissection of strange and exotic cuts of meat - at home. A recent purchase of a meat grinder (more on that soon!) has lead to a whole lot of chopping and cutting, slicing and dicing and a new search - for a superior place on which to cut.
American Meat Institute Advertising 1940s
Sometimes, we as consumers don’t necessarily have access to everything quality and well-made. Throughout history, the military has provided a fine example of an institution that reserves the right to some superior products for themselves. The dependence of a person’s life on a functioning buckle or zipper or the endurance of a material under extreme conditions, draws an attention to detail that consumers often don’t get the luxury to experience. Industry is another good example.
I was recently on a search, looking by the bins near our neighbor’s apartment complex, peeking behind the store around the block, looking for the right one. And then I found her - a flat yet sturdy beauty, about 6 feet tall, pleasantly thick in all the right places, clean around the edges, and in excellent overall shape. I had found the mother of them all, a huge cardboard box, and what a great playhouse it would make for my 2-year old. As I threw the heavy carton into the back of my truck, I imagined what it must have carried, being so strong, and what it would become after I got through with it.
Carboard Container Advertising 1942
Fresh powder snow doesn’t just look beautiful, it also swallows noise, making everything impossibly silent. But walking through deep snow is so strenuous that it’s nearly impossible to enjoy this simple pleasure - unless you strap on a pair of snowshoes. A recent article on the excellent 10engines blog sparked my interest to read more about the history of wooden snowshoes.
Vintage Wooden Snowshoe with some Steel Wire Repairs
The best design offers innovative solutions to the relentless stream of everyday challenges, uniquely reflecting and interacting with their origins. Seersucker, the brightly colored cotton fabric associated with Southern Gentlemen, J. Crew catalogs and Easter egg hunts, is certainly no different. Both an iconic achievement in fashion design and functionality, seersucker’s ceaseless timelessness stands as one of America’s finest fabric achievements.
Founded in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1880s, J.A. Bauer Pottery originally specialized in containers for the most popular of local products… whiskey. Manufacturing stoneware crocks and bottles – John Andy Bauer built his business on traditional earthenware techniques, thick and sturdy liquor and water jugs which meant to follow function more than form. It wasn’t until Bauer relocated to Los Angeles in 1909 that his innate creativity began to take root.
J.A. Bauer Pottery Bowl, Circa 1940s
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
Body Soap
The science of soap is more complex than one might imagine, requiring at least a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry. Even the most basic ingredients of soap rely on key reactions with other ingredients - a give and take that makes you wonder that we ever figured out how to make soap in the first place. It makes some sense then, that the creation of cleansing products was supposedly discovered by accident.
Ivory Advertising with WWI Soldiers, 1919 (Click on Image to Read Copy)
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