Customer Reviews

1000 Extra/Ordinary Objects

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Objects: stuff, knick-knacks, toys, trinkets, tools, curios, gadgets. The things we use, abuse, collect, toss away, cherish, depend on or can't live without: these are the material goods that fill our lives. Those shown in 1000 EXTRA/ORDINARY OBJECTS may or may not hold special meaning to you, but their importance as objects of cultural identity is unmistakable.

Produced, under the direction of Oliviero Toscani, then design director of Colors magazine, 1000 EXTRA/ORDINARY OBJECTS truly illustrates Colors' motto that "diversity is good" and translates perfectly into a book that celebrates the intrinsic cultural differences in everyday objects.

Discover the efficiency of a priest's portable mass-in-a-briefcase and the wonderful practicality of a Venezuelan Urination Funnel for women. Ponder the juxtaposition of neoprene surfing shoes and bullfighting slippers; contemplate the multi-tasking inherent in English-language lessons printed on Japanese toilet paper; and the wishful thinking of Chinese Slimming Soap that promises to make you slender and fit. What could be a better combo than glue-on ... from Germany and the formidable Arabian Goat's Eye ...? Jaunting off on this global shopping trip, you'll see that objects completely foreign to you may be commonplace halfway across the world.

In case you see something that you absolutely must have, check out the Yellow Pages section at the end of the book. Here you can find out where to get it and how much it costs, and read fascinating tidbits of information to make your worldwide journey complete.

Next time you pick up your toothbrush or Ethiopian ear-cleaning spoon, you may think twice about the things that you use every day - perhaps they're not so ordinary after all.

This is a wonderful collection of objects, truly an artistic selection of eye-popping, category-crossing, often beautiful things. Each object also has a very very nice description, laying out who made and why, and giving an idea of how it functions. You get battery-operated tongues - think of the uses you can put that to! - and scores of traditional objects such as funery slippers and straw hats or cow-tail medicinal brushes. It is a feast for the imagination, funny, and provocative.

Recommended for industrial designers and art lovers alike.

Very entertaining and embarassingly funny.
Makes me want to shave all my body hair and buy some of the unusual hair pieces so popular in Japan.
Many unusual and creative if COMPLETELY USELESS INVENTIONS.
I find out that the women of Caracas absolutely love the "Urination Funnel", the art of urinating standing up using a paper cone,it is described as strange at first,but FUN. I truly live a very sheltered life as a woman in the USA, unable to access the simple pleasure of urinating standing up.
764 pages of pure COMICAL FACTS.

If you like the quirky, oddball articles in COLOURS magazine, you'll love this book and its wide-range of unusual objects from around the world. The book is filled with great photo illustrations and captions and is both entertaining and informative (you will be a master of oddball trivia after reading this).