Machinery perverts
Are you one? I know I am. A trend as sweeping as the one where teenaged boys are addicted to online porn (side note: Weren’t teenaged boys always addicted to porn?), this is pretty kinky and involves heavy machinery. Fetch your hardhat, I’m talking about our growing fascination with the factory work photo. Currently the money shot on an interiors website near you – especially if it’s an historical picture from the archives. Behold.
From the Fritz Hansen website. I could stare at this for days, and I’m not really sure what’s going on. I’ll describe this image as ‘Iconic chairs being made and contained in weird wheel-shaped vendors.’
From MYB Textiles. So lace looms? Something to do with weaving, utterly spell binding and taken from a whole page of photos that will kill 20 minutes of your day.
A bit more rough and ready from young outfit the Works Collective, I grant you. But captivating none the less. Seriously, pass me the overalls.
Does this basically all go back to our obsession with craft? And do we love to see how things are made because our country now makes a woefully small contribution to the manufacturing scene? Answers machine cut or pressed in metal please.
I’ll leave you with this beautiful film about a man who makes knives in Derbyshire while listening to a song I love.
I am with you on this one! LOVE a factory trip; back when I worked in fashion PR, I got to tour the Missoni factory – acres of massive knitting machines turning out the most delicate knits (heaven!) and a couple of months ago, we got to visit the Samuel Heath factory, and spent happy hours mooning over metal stamping machines, plating baths and polishing belts – pics here if you want a lunchtime perv http://www.industrypublicity.co.uk/samuel-heath-factory-visit/
Best, Emma
I am going for a perv now! Wow to the Missoni factory visit. I can only dream of such things, but I have visited many a kitchen and bathroom factory in my time. Mostly in Germany – we need to big up the Brits on this. x
As a photographer factories give me fantastic visual opportunities to capture the art and craft involved in the manufacturing process. I have been lucky enough to shoot a couple of very different factories for Drummonds (factory in Poland) and for The New England England Shutter Company (factory in Dubai) – see their website at http://www.thenewenglandshuttercompany.com/manufacturing/
Great fun to shoot and rather different from a domenstic interior !
Rowland
That looks fantastic Rowland, thanks for sharing the link. Must be lovely to shoot as well as the more polished interiors.
Absolutely ! Variety is the spice of life as they say !
For other inspiring machinery pictures look at the German photographers Bernt and Hilla Becher.
Rowland
Oh Yes!
I loved those bits of film we saw on kids programmes in the 70’s of machines bottling milk, sealing the lids on etc or a button factory machine drilling the holes. Urban Cottage Industries have some really gorgeous little films of light bulbs being manufactured and some by hand. You can find them if you join vimeo. Very happy viewing https://vimeo.com/67298244
Fabulous, thanks! I now appear to have almost an evening’s worth of machinery-in-action films.