HBL Book of the Week: The Toaster Project

The Toaster Project (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011) documents RCA design graduate Thomas Thwaites' attempt to build his own toaster, from scratch. Over nine months, Thwaites collected all of the individual components needed, resulting in an appliance that cost 250 times more than its shop-bought equivalent - and promptly broke.

Thwaites' investigation into the DIY design process provides a good literary starting point for autumn/winter 2013/14 macro trend Hacktivate, and perfectly encapsulates a growing desire amongst consumers to 'kludge' everyday items - and to question why we have embraced mass-production quite so much.