MAKE A MEME
View Large Image
| View Original: | Project_365_#39:_080214_Where_Do_You_Come_From?.jpg (5120x3413) | |||
| Download: | Original | Medium | Small | Thumb |
| Courtesy of: | www.flickr.com | More Like This | ||
| Keywords: companies manufacturing meet thy maker meetthymaker origins project 365 project365 traffic lights trafficlights text Talking to some of the kids in schools, it's astonishing to realise how many of them don't know where things come from. For instance, you could ask them where bacon comes from or where cheese comes from, and some of them (not many I grant you) will say "from a shop". And that's their definitive answer. They've got nowhere else to go after that. It does lead to an interesting train of thought though. If you're sitting indoors reading this then pretty much everything around you has been made: manufactured, processed, quarried, milled, mined - it didn't get there by accident. But do you know who makes it? There are so many everyday objects that we use that we don't really think about the origins of. Most adults have at one time or another at least browsed bathroom furniture, so if asked about the pot we pee in we might have a go at Twyfords, Armitage Shanks, or if you're really posh, Royal Doulton. When we look through the window, some of us might be able to have a stab at suggesting that the photons striking our retinas might have passed through Pilkingtons glass. But what about the walls? If you've DIYed then you might be able to dredge up an association between Blue Circle and cement, but can you name a brick manufacturer? And the one that struck me when I was out walking today...we all use them - most of us several times each day - but have you EVER stopped to wonder who actually makes traffic lights? I shot two while I was out. One from Plessey and one from GEC, and I'm sure at some point they were the same firm. Just for good measure, I've also thrown in a brick that I spotted, and it's no ordinary brick. H R Bowers were manufacturers of particularly beautiful glazed bricks, which is presumably why this one was recovered from the building it stood outside. Talking to some of the kids in schools, it's astonishing to realise how many of them don't know where things come from. For instance, you could ask them where bacon comes from or where cheese comes from, and some of them (not many I grant you) will say "from a shop". And that's their definitive answer. They've got nowhere else to go after that. It does lead to an interesting train of thought though. If you're sitting indoors reading this then pretty much everything around you has been made: manufactured, processed, quarried, milled, mined - it didn't get there by accident. But do you know who makes it? There are so many everyday objects that we use that we don't really think about the origins of. Most adults have at one time or another at least browsed bathroom furniture, so if asked about the pot we pee in we might have a go at Twyfords, Armitage Shanks, or if you're really posh, Royal Doulton. When we look through the window, some of us might be able to have a stab at suggesting that the photons striking our retinas might have passed through Pilkingtons glass. But what about the walls? If you've DIYed then you might be able to dredge up an association between Blue Circle and cement, but can you name a brick manufacturer? And the one that struck me when I was out walking today...we all use them - most of us several times each day - but have you EVER stopped to wonder who actually makes traffic lights? I shot two while I was out. One from Plessey and one from GEC, and I'm sure at some point they were the same firm. Just for good measure, I've also thrown in a brick that I spotted, and it's no ordinary brick. H R Bowers were manufacturers of particularly beautiful glazed bricks, which is presumably why this one was recovered from the building it stood outside. | ||||
