Everyday Aesthetics 6 The Tin Can

Art of the Everyday, Arts Chat, Roaming The Arts

The tin canning process was conceived by the Frenchman Philippe de Girard, who had British merchant Peter Durand patent the idea in 1810. Everyday Aesthetics 6 The Tin Can. Where would we be without the tin can? It holds my beer, my baked beans, canned veg and fruit. Apparently like frozen food, the contents are just as fresh (almost) as newly harvested veg and fruit owing to the speedy transfer from fisld to canning. It’s undoubtedly one of the most valuable everyday essential convenience. The canning concept was based on experimental food preservation work in glass containers the year before by the French inventor Nicholas Appert. Durand did not pursue food canning, but, in 1812, sold his patent to two Englishmen, Bryan Donkin and John Hall, who refined the process and product, and set up the world’s first commercial canning factory on Southwark Park Road, London. By 1813 they … Continue reading Everyday Aesthetics 6 The Tin Can →

Everyday Aesthetics 5 – The Letter

Art of the Everyday, Roaming The Arts

Everyday Aesthetics 5  – The Letter Without the letter I wouldn’t be able to read, I wouldn’t be able to order from a menu, I would be able to keep up with the news, I wouldn’t be able to follow instructions. I would be able to type this and you wouldn’t be able to read it. Everyday Aesthetics 5  – The Letter Of course, it’s endless. Where would we be without letters, reading, writing, the press? Who really knows where the first letters we use today originated from. India, Egypt, Syria?  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_alphabet) Who knows for sure. But what we do know is how letters and with them writing, changed the world. Nomadic tribes, to agricultural society, to civilization and the first recordings of history and theology (Old Testament), philosophy (Greece), poems (Homer) through the millennia to today with some exceptions. … Continue reading Everyday Aesthetics 5 – The Letter →

Everyday Aesthetics 4 The Match

Art of the Everyday, Arts Chat, Roaming The Arts, Uncategorized

Everyday Aesthetics 4 The Match The match used to be an essential means of lighting a fire, cooker, smoking articles, candles and other items. Without a match a flintlock or other ignition tool was required. A utensil for lighting campimg stoves is still often preferred to the match which can of course become damp in wet weather. Where did the match come from? Once again, possibly China. A note in the text Cho Keng Lu, written in 1366, describes a sulfur match, small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur, used in China by “impoverished court ladies” in AD 577 during the conquest of Northern Qi. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (AD 907–960), a book called the Records of the Unworldly and the Strange written by Chinese author Tao Gu in about 950 stated: If there occurs an emergency at night it may take some time to make … Continue reading Everyday Aesthetics 4 The Match →

Everyday Aesthetics 3 Tap Valve

Art of the Everyday, Arts Chat, Roaming The Arts, Uncategorized

Everyday aesthetics 3 Tap Valve Apparently evidence of taps or faucets goes back to Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece and even Knossos in Crete. That’s at least 1700 BC. Most evidence though points to Ancient Rome where aqueducts were built to bring fresh water from the hills into the centre of the city. Thus the need for the next invention, the tap. Water, one of the most precious requirements to life of all descriptions, but so much taken for granted. Without the valve mechanism to control the flow of water, the tap would be useless. Hence the valve being an everyday essential and certainly deserves the importance of being considered an aesthetic. I wouldn’t be able to run my bath or shower without the tap valve. I certainly wouldn’t be able to fill my kettle for my tea or coffee without … Continue reading Everyday Aesthetics 3 Tap Valve →

Everyday Aesthetics 2 – The Stirrer

Art of the Everyday, Uncategorized

Everyday Aesthetics 2 – The Stirrer In certain cafes and restaurants, I wouldn’t be able to stir my coffee without the ubiquitous wooden stirrer. So for me this is an absolute everyday essential (see footnote below). Everyday Aesthetics 2 – The Stirrer It’s recyclable, it’s cheap and hygienic and it works.  You cannot spoon in sugar but I don’t take sugar anyway, but for those who do, there’s the small packages that pour of course. (Sugar itself has a fascinating history that I’ll turn to in a future article) This video is me stirring my coffee in Wetherspoons where you can have as many refills as you wish for something like £1.24. Give the place credit. Coffee has a long and interesting history that allegedly dates to the 9th Century in Ethiopia.According to a popular legend, an Ethiopian goat farmer … Continue reading Everyday Aesthetics 2 – The Stirrer →

Everyday Aesthetics – The Power Socket

Art of the Everyday, Arts Chat

The art of the everyday object brought to the vital importance it deserves. Electricity – a modern age wonder without which I couldn’t make my tea. Well I could if I lit a fire under an old fashioned stove. But let’s not go down that road. Everyday Aesthetics – The Power Socket Let’s take a look at it. We’ve all got them. We use them all the time, every day. We take them for granted. It’s there, silently doing its job. Our humble servant. We know that it links to the power grid. The electricity is delivered over or underground by cables stretching from sub-stations and from there to the national grid where power is generated by power stations, nuclear, coal, oil and increasingly solar, wind and waves. I warm my home with electricity. I cook with it. I can … Continue reading Everyday Aesthetics – The Power Socket →