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Where Stuff Comes From: How Toasters, Toilets, Cars, Computers and Many Other Things Come To Be As They Are
Molotch takes us on a fascinating exploration into the worlds of technology, design, corporate and popular culture. We now see how corporations, designers, retailers, advertisers, and other middle-men influence what a thing can be and how it is made. We see the way goods link into ordinary life as well as vast systems of consumption, economic and political operation. The book is a meditation into the meaning of the stuff in our lives and what that stuff says about us.
Hardcover
First published March 14, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 16, 2015
Another split review. If you're looking for a solid explanation that includes both design and the lash-ups or infrastructure needed to support innovation this is an excellent overview. If you've read quite a bit about industrial design already, most of this will be review. Yes, it's great to see all these explanations in one volume, but I found myself nodding along with most of the book instead of enjoying new ideas. The references are slightly dated (12 years old) but most are still memorable (e.g. iMacs) although future forecasting is problematic because this book was written before the heavy corporate leveraging of social media we know today. Overall, a great book for the novice interested in the limits bounding innovation but nothing revealing for a regular reader of product or industrial design classics.
March 8, 2021
Good but not great. Helpful for students of marketing and product design in providing perspective and context, but lacks depth.
January 19, 2011
‘For any product, form and function are always bound up.’
The everyday objects of our lives, and where they come from, are the subject of this book. How do items such as paper clips, post-it notes and bathtubs come into being? What factors influence design, and why do we (many of us, anyway) want this stuff?
I found this book fascinating. Some items of ‘stuff’ – such as toys and lamps change relatively quickly in response to fashion. Some other items – such as pencils and toilets - do not. The influences on change seem to vary, depending on the item.
Take, for example, the chair.
Chairs are not universally used around the world; many people squat, sit cross-legged or sit flat on the ground. But where chairs are used, we actively train our children how to use them ‘properly’. And as a consequence, for many of us: ‘Chairs have become part of the methodology of respect and rectitude.’ The design of chairs has changed, and while there is some contrast between the utilitarian and the artistic, the distinction is often blurred.
It’s interesting to consider some of the cultural and other factors that influence design, as well as the functionality that mirrors contemporary life. There are plenty of examples including the garlic press; the Palm Pilot; and the Chrysler PT Cruiser. And there are items that could be different: the computer keyboard (which evolved from the typewriter) for example, or the conventional western toilet which could be modified to accommodate squatting but isn’t. Why things are the way they are and what factors influence this makes for very interesting reading. The linkages between items are interesting to consider: the toaster (to give one example) did not develop in isolation. Toasters require a source of power (a power outlet), a place to sit (a benchtop) as well as bread sliced to a particular width and toppings (Vegemite for this Australian).
While this book primarily discusses what is rather than what might be, it’s possible that an awareness of the politics of design could result in more environmentally friendly products.
Who influences whom, and how?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The everyday objects of our lives, and where they come from, are the subject of this book. How do items such as paper clips, post-it notes and bathtubs come into being? What factors influence design, and why do we (many of us, anyway) want this stuff?
I found this book fascinating. Some items of ‘stuff’ – such as toys and lamps change relatively quickly in response to fashion. Some other items – such as pencils and toilets - do not. The influences on change seem to vary, depending on the item.
Take, for example, the chair.
Chairs are not universally used around the world; many people squat, sit cross-legged or sit flat on the ground. But where chairs are used, we actively train our children how to use them ‘properly’. And as a consequence, for many of us: ‘Chairs have become part of the methodology of respect and rectitude.’ The design of chairs has changed, and while there is some contrast between the utilitarian and the artistic, the distinction is often blurred.
It’s interesting to consider some of the cultural and other factors that influence design, as well as the functionality that mirrors contemporary life. There are plenty of examples including the garlic press; the Palm Pilot; and the Chrysler PT Cruiser. And there are items that could be different: the computer keyboard (which evolved from the typewriter) for example, or the conventional western toilet which could be modified to accommodate squatting but isn’t. Why things are the way they are and what factors influence this makes for very interesting reading. The linkages between items are interesting to consider: the toaster (to give one example) did not develop in isolation. Toasters require a source of power (a power outlet), a place to sit (a benchtop) as well as bread sliced to a particular width and toppings (Vegemite for this Australian).
While this book primarily discusses what is rather than what might be, it’s possible that an awareness of the politics of design could result in more environmentally friendly products.
Who influences whom, and how?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
November 17, 2011
Lost steam at the end with ambivalent regulation commentary, but piques curiosity.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews