The previous post, showcasing the jar tops and the screw-on watering spout, are both examples leaning towards the commercial design end of reuse.

A book I have been reading recently is further at the other end of the scale. "Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts" by Vladimir Arkhipov is a book showcasing everyday objects made by Russian individuals during the perestroika period in the late 1980's.
The items range from flickknives and screwdrivers made in prison, shuttlecocks made from plastic bottles, a television aerial made from old forks and a doormat made from a merry night's worth of beer bottle tops.


All the individuals in the book show a great amount of ingenuity towards crafting solutions to everyday problems, however the individuals comment on their objects so matter-of-factly that we sense they do not think their creations are special in anyway. Of course they think they are functional, and many of them are very proud of both the object in question and of their own skills to craft these items, but special? No. Useful? Yes.

Some of the objects in the book are similar to ones that I have seen my father and grandfather make, I have also fashioned some similar objects, however much less that previous generations. My father and grandfather, and the individuals in the book simply state that there was no money to buy the things that they made instead.


Now that many everyday objects can be bought very cheaply and are distributed across the country, are we as a society losing some of the skills required to make and fix our objects? Some skills are passed down from parent to child, but if objects are so accessible, so cheap and so easy to buy, why would I spend time making a version which probably doesnt function aswell as the bought one?

Pride - I like making my own things, especially if it is something that I could buy in a supermarket. I feel a great satisfaction that I built 'this', 'this' is here because I took the time and effort to build it, rather than take the easy option and purchase it.

Individuality - A homemade object will always look less 'perfect' and finished than a commercial version, but because I have made it myself, and a stronger emotional bond was formed during that process, I appreciate the incomplete aesthetic. Also, no one else has a brush like 'this'.