Art student Thomas Thwaites created a lofty personal challenge: remake a £3.99 toaster he bought new at a shop from scratch. This corded glob is what he came up with… and while it’s a bit different from the model, it works.
(The original Argos Value Range 2 Slice Toaster)
A perfect replica was quickly found to be impossible, or at least implausible, as the original toaster was found to have 100 different materials inside to be collected and refined. So Thwaites built his version with just five: Iron, copper, plastic, nickel and mica – actually taking steps like mining his own iron ore and smelting it in his microwave.
Points of sustainability aside, the industrial society of today is a remarkable machine. [Dezeen via Treehugger]
StevoTheDevo
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 10:11 AMDid he drill his own oil well and refinery to get the raw materials for the plastic?
If, no, I say it’s a half-assed job!
whatiris
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 11:46 AMHa, turns out he “mined” his own plastic (which I reckon is fair enough!)
Travis Young
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 2:56 PMHe tried to get BP to come to the party with crude oil.. but evidently they were too busy with their own problems to call him back.