Category Archives: history

Reading between the lines

Posted on March 21, 2013 by things magazine

A proto-satnav: leather-cased scrolling travelling map from the 1920s, ‘a Bakelite cased unit housing a pair of rollers manually operated by two winding arms to the side, with 24cm wide plastic window displaying a Bartholomew’s road map for South-West England’ … Continue reading →

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Lost in action

Posted on February 13, 2013 by things magazine

John Glassie’s Tumblr is a repository of ‘interesting things’, many of which have some bearing on the great Athanasius Kircher, and specifically to Glassie’s book, A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change (more … Continue reading →

Posted in esoterica, history | 1 Comment

Wood and mazes

Posted on February 8, 2013 by things magazine

Moby is busy making the shift from musician to amateur architecture blogger to presenter. He’s no Meades, but the short film, Moby Celebrates LA Architecture is designed to whet your appetite for an upcoming exhibition, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern … Continue reading →

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Colour and culture

Posted on February 7, 2013 by things magazine

‘When the fashion industry declares that lime green is the new black, or instructs us to “think pink!,” it is not the result of a backroom deal forged by a secretive cabal of fashion journalists, designers, manufacturers, and the editor … Continue reading →

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The original postcard versions

Posted on January 14, 2013 by things magazine

Postcards, new year’s cards and much, much more at the colossal collection of Japanese postcards at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Above, From an Airplane (Hikoki kara), late Meiji era. We also like this: To Tomita Beach, circa 1936. … Continue reading →

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Lu, Kraft and UFOs

Posted on January 9, 2013 by things magazine

Lefèvre-Utile bake biscuits. Better known as LU, the French company started in Nantes in 1846, initially as a distributor for Huntley and Palmers before then baking their own. Best known for their elaborate posters by Alfonse Mucha and Firmin Bouisset, … Continue reading →

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Bribery, Yakuza and Kamikaze

Posted on December 4, 2012 by things magazine

Mitsuyasu Maeno, ‘a Japanese actor who appeared in roman porno films. He died in an (unsuccessful) suicide attack on Yoshio Kodama, a multi-millionaire right-wing leader and leading figure in the Lockheed bribery scandals‘, part of a much wider system of … Continue reading →

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The Enduring Object

Posted on December 3, 2012 by things magazine

We’d like to see a directory of supposedly high technology products that are still built but haven’t been updated in years. These are the objects that do exactly what they were originally designed to do and can’t really be improved … Continue reading →

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The Secret Garden

Posted on November 29, 2012 by things magazine

The tale of a secret theatre in Berlin, discovered by one Dirk Moritz of the Moritz Gruppe and posted at Design Porteur. From the site: ‘An old cabaret theatre from the roaring ’20s has been uncovered in the heart of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, ruins, technology | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Away, bombs

Posted on November 26, 2012 by things magazine

Is this famous image of a Heinkel bomber above Millwall actually a German propaganda fake? Airminded is on the case / MDM Props are the manufacturers and makers behind many iconic contemporary artworks and installations, including Anish Kapoor’s Turning the … Continue reading →

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