Torch history
Archived address note: from candle and oil light to the hand-held electric torch of 1899 and blue LEDs.
Torch history (in Russian)
Collections
Collections
Collections bring sections of the magazine together into short routes around a single theme. Each consists of three pieces that are best read in order: from general history to a particular object, and then on to how to understand and look after it. Choose the theme that appeals to you today and start with the first card.
Three pages about a torch, a flask or a spoon, and you will open your kitchen drawer differently.
How this section works: a collection brings magazine sections together around one household theme. Inside you will find links only to our own pages, including the archived address notes, with no advertising or outside offers.
Light at home
How light at home travelled from the candle to the LED, and why the torch became something almost everyone owns.
On the road
The things we take with us when we travel, and the stories they bring back.
Wheeled suitcase
Archived address note: how the trunk became the suitcase and why wheels arrived so late.
Wheeled suitcase (in Russian)
Vacuum flask history
Archived address note: from the laboratory vessel of 1892 to a companion on hikes and trips.
Vacuum flask (in Russian)
How a vacuum flask works
A step-by-step breakdown: inner flask, vacuum, reflective walls, stopper and casing.
In the kitchen
Kitchen utensils seem the simplest things of all, yet behind them lie metallurgy and centuries-old habits.
Measuring spoon
Archived address note: kitchen measures and the stainless steel produced in Sheffield in 1913.
Measuring spoon (in Russian)
Materials of ordinary things
A table of wood, tinplate, steel, aluminium, plastic and glass: their strengths and how they age.
Magazine topics
Family objects, repair and collecting: themes that a kitchen drawer naturally leads to.
Read next
- Articles
Six magazine topics, from the history of household things to collecting, plus a catalogue of articles written for English-language readers.
- History
A timeline of ordinary things: Dewar's vessel of 1892, the 1899 torch, stainless steel in 1913, the wheeled suitcase and blue LEDs.
- Analysis
How a vacuum flask works, step by step, and how the materials of ordinary things behave over time.
- Archive
The magazine's contents and a note on the old addresses of this domain.
- Home
A magazine about the culture of ordinary things: the history of household objects, their form, design and place in family memory.
Sources
- Variety Store magazine content
Dates of inventions and patents are taken from open historical and encyclopaedic sources. Exhibition, fair and museum lecture schedules change, so always check them with the organisers.