Author(s): David Usborne

Homes & Design

This miscellany of mysterious objects celebrates the beauty of simple, useful things. If you have ever thatched a roof, measured a skull, stuffed a rabbit or walked on a whale, you may well recognize some of these tools. If you haven't, but admire the work of, say, Miro, Duchamp and Cornell, you will appreciate these accidental masterpieces of the everyday. These are the tools of life, some developed according to our basic human needs, some for less obvious ends, still others from vanishing trades, yet all display a beauty and meaning beyond their function. There is something in these objects that will touch the designer, artist, inventor or collector in us all.