WHAT IF... We tried to make a toaster from scratch?.. The Toaster Project by Thomas Thwaites

Exhibit at the WHAT IF... Exhibition in the Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin in 2009 The Toaster Project, 2009 by Thomas Thwaites Thwaites went on a quest to build an electric toaster from scratch, seeking iron, copper, mica, nickel and crude oil (for the plastic case) from disused mines in Britain, then attempting to process the materials at home. This nine-month process to make a simple toaster is absurd, but so too is the massive industrial activity we pursue to achieve additional comforts at ever lower prices. The laboriousness of producing even the most basic material from the ground up exposes the fallacy of returning to some romantic ideal of a pre-industrialised time. But at this moment in time when the effects of industry are no longer trivial for the environment, the throwaway toasters of today seem unreasonable.

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