Engineer and inventor
Finds the principle the object will work on, such as a vacuum layer or a battery inside a casing. The idea often waits years for someone to turn it into a household item.
People
People and makers
Behind every familiar object stands a chain of people: the one who came up with the principle, the one who gave it a convenient form, the one who made the first examples by hand, and those who later preserved, repaired and described it. We write about roles rather than celebrities, because the culture of things rests on many unseen contributors.
Few people remember the inventor's name. Fewer still remember the person who first made the thing comfortable to hold, and without them it would have stayed in the laboratory.
How this section works: we write about professions and roles connected with things, and about historical facts. The only names mentioned are James Dewar, David Misell and Harry Brearley, in connection with their inventions. We do not write about living people.
Who shapes the culture of things
Six roles without which an ordinary object would never have become part of culture.
Industrial designer
Thinks about how the object will sit in the hand, how it will be washed, carried and stored, and how it will look on a shelf next to other things.
Master craftsperson
Makes things by hand: forging, soldering, grinding, stitching. Craft preserves techniques that mass production later adopted or lost.
Measuring spoon (in Russian)
Collection curator
Describes objects, establishes their provenance, looks after storage conditions and decides how to show a thing to visitors without damaging it.
Restorer of household objects
Brings things back to life while trying to keep the traces of time that tell their story. Good restoration is noticeable only to a specialist.
Collector
Gathers objects of one kind and over time becomes an expert: tells early examples from later ones, knows the maker's marks and can date finds.
How to read the history of an invention without falling for a myth
- Distinguish between the idea, the patent and the start of mass production: these are three different events, and decades may separate them.
- Look for the patent specification or scientific publication itself, not a retelling in a light-entertainment article.
- Be wary if a story has too neat an ending: the sudden flash of inspiration over lunch is often invented later.
- Remember that many things were invented in parallel in different countries, and disputes over who came first do not always have a single answer.
- Tell apart the date of an invention and the date when the object entered most people's everyday lives.
- Check names and years against at least two independent sources and note it when they disagree.
Read next
- 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.
- Events
Design exhibitions, flea markets, open workshops and museum lectures: the kinds of events there are and how to check a listing.
- Collections
Three reading routes: light at home, things for the road and kitchen utensils.
- Articles
Six magazine topics, from the history of household things to collecting, plus a catalogue of articles written for English-language readers.
Sources
- Encyclopaedic sources on the history of technology and design
- Patent offices: specifications of patents for household inventions
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.