The Rag And Bone Man Creates New From Old

There is something that is just raw, beautiful and primal about old cast metal pieces. Maybe its the fixation we have towards all things mechanical and motorized. In all reality, one of the big elements that forever attracts us to pieces such as the ones being showcased, is the utilitarian aspect. 

Form can follow function or maybe function follows form, really just depends on the mindset and how an item is to be used. From a utilitarian aspect, seeing all of these spare parts re-purposed into a brand new identity, is refreshing and a great way to think on recycling.

As so much of our culture becomes throw away plastic items, viewing old valve covers as lamps and engine cylinder heads as a solid base for a lighting platform, gives hope that craftsmen are still hard at work world wide. They are putting new life into items that will far outlive their owners and fulfilling the notion that new doesn't necessarily mean better.

Check out the Rag and Bone Man

"Paul Firbank is a modern craftsman. Based in the East End he sorts and sifts through London’s scrap yards, railway arch grease shops and thrift markets looking for the remains of outmoded modern metal parts and vintage engineered machinery that represent fragments of British industrial history…

Building upon the past Paul creates something unmistakeably contemporary. Using traditional metalwork techniques and his time-honoured machinery, he restores, welds, turns, strips, brushes, polishes and varnishes, transforming these discarded scraps into bespoke pieces of contemporary lighting and furniture. 

Paul develops each piece meticulously, subtly responding to the materials he has found to create something familiar yet modern and unique. Inspired by things that last Paul’s work have been described as future heirlooms and have begun to create a legacy of it’s own.

The launch of The Rag and Bone Man at Tent London 2011 as part of London Design Festival has led Paul to work with private individuals, interior designers, artists, architects, collectors and on international commissions. His works have also been featured in The Times, The Telegraph, Living Etc, and Elle Decoration"


The Rag & Bone Man from Make Your Bones on Vimeo.

Meet Allan Hill, The Man Who Lives In Detroit’s Abandoned Packard Auto Plant

Beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and forms but what Alan Hill has found, is his own personal utopia. We can be quick to think on all the things we want and need, but what is the ultimate price that we will pay to get it? Not to wax too poetic or dive too deep philosophically, but take a gaze around your humble abode. Is this exactly where ya want to be or could you change up the setting to fit more into your ideal conditions. He truly has one of the largest live work spaces on the planet, damn cool in my mind. The running water might be a tough one to get around though.

Link to original article on Yahoo Autos

Alan Hill in the abandoned Packard factory he calls home

Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of Detroit "ruin porn" is it inherently ignores the very real people who still live in the city. Now there's a convergence — the amazing story of Allan Hill, the man who legally lives inside the city's abandoned Packard Auto Plant.

What's most surprising about this moving mini-documentary is Hill's "quality of life" doesn't look as terrible as you'd imagine, nor does his reasoning for choosing to stay in the largest abandoned factory in the world seem so unsound.

The whole creation is a huge gut-check to our biases. Yes, the Packard Plant is so giant and empty and strange they shoot Michael Bay movies there. And, occasionally, kids push a dump truck out a window.

Yet, Hill has power, Internet access, a welding setup, and a small kitchen. He even maintains a webcam. The owner apparently gave him his blessing so long as Hill works as a custodian of the property.

He reminds me of the Prophet Amos, whom God appointed to tell the Israelites to stop letting the wealthiest few prosper at the hands of the poorest. This was not a popular message as it came at a time when Israel was doing fairly well. Amos also told them to prepare themselves for judgement, especially from a foreign nation.

Amos 9:13-15

"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, 
and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.

"They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; 
they will make gardens and eat their fruit. 
I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God."

This video is part of the series This Must Be The Place. The title, of course, is taken from that other great prophet David Byrne. He of the many heads talking.

1937 Packard Sedan made at the factory where Alan Hill calls home

Machining The World's Smallest V-12 Engine

Hobbyists come in many forms, but ones that we have some of the utmost respect for are those mad machinists that produce small scale working engines. Its one thing to go and buy a model RC monster truck or car and assemble it. Then its another beast for those of ya that actually machine all your own working parts and make it run. Yes, we can easily call that level of patience a zen machine master. 

We hope to get an interview with one of these select individuals at some point and to see just how they create their amazing pieces in person. The devil is in the details and after watching this eight minute jem, we know that you will have more appreciation as well.

World War 2 Photos in Color

Found an amazing batch of photos during the period of World War 2 as America was in full war effort to help our folks going to battle in the Pacific and Europe. These are held in the Library of Congress and luckily the Atlantic posted them as part eight of a twenty part retrospective on the war to end all wars. If yall happen to ever roll through New Orleans, do yourself a favor and go down to the World War 2 museum, very enlightening and they still have a few ww2 vets who come in to volunteer.

Link over to the Atlantic for the full post

"In 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of War Information (OWI). The new agency was tasked with releasing war news, promoting patriotic activities, and providing news outlets with audio, film, and photos of the government's war efforts. Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color. OWI photographers Alfred Palmer and Howard Hollem produced some exceptional Kodachrome transparencies in the early war years depicting military preparedness, factory operations, and women in the work force. While most of the scenes were posed, the subjects were the real thing -- soldiers and workers preparing for a long fight. Gathered here are some of these color images from Palmer and Hollem, complete with original captions from 1942. Also, be sure to see archival movies in our new Video Channel. All of the FSA/OWI photos are available from the Library of Congress."