thwaites' toaster.

we make money not art spoke about this project a while back, but i got to see it for real yesterday.

and, for the record, it is fucking brilliant.

i didn't have much of a chance to see the whole documentary, but i did take my time checking out the book and i embarrassed the fuck out of myself with my laughter reverberating around the whole warehouse. not that the subject itself is funny per se, but thwaites has, in perfect english manner, manage to bring a sense of candour, wit and self-deprication to the process that is instantly endearing.

the task, to create from scratch (like literraly - raw materials) a toaster. the kind that argos sells for £3.64. considering the time, materials, efforts - the thwaites toaster cost £1187.54 and the documented process and execution is priceless.


if you ever get the chance to see it. or when the book is published, please do everyone a favour and see it/buy it/borrow it.

it's a finely crafted critique of our instant culture, a reminder how far we've come from making our tools ourselves and disarms the romanticism attached to those 'good ol' days'. and it starts with a perfect douglas adams quote too:

“Left to his own devices he couldn’t build a toaster. He could just about make a sandwich and that was it.” -Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams, 1992

image credit: daniel alexander, thanks to d-build