By Wes French
Now & Then
Happy new year housewares fans! 2010 was quite a ride, and now that we’re all done celebrating, it’s time to get focused on what’s ahead in 2011. Everyone likes to start the year off well, but before your resolutions stall, you need something to start you up. Enter your morning cup of coffee. Coffee is the lifeblood of many in the morning, and grinding your own coffee beans has become quite the trend. Its highly doubtful the whole “grinding your own” craze would have caught on had we still all used early 1900’s style coffee grinders. Take a look at how far the coffee grinder has come…
Household Product or Dance Move? How about both…
A little Culinary Curiosity with one of our own
IHA’s Vicki Matranga, Design Programs coordinator by day, recently went on the radio program of our foodie friends Cooking With Caitlin to talk about historical housewares and the evolution of the home since the early 1900’s. You can find the program in its entirety here.
The topics included themes from Vicki’s book, America at Home: A Celebration of Twentieth-Century Housewares, as they discussed the modern home and how it has changed in the last 100+ years, how products have changed with it, the roles of women, raising children and more. The discussion also focused on “Culinary Curiosity” an exhibit of housewares from 1800’s America and other eras in world culture that Matranga curated at Chicago’s Kendall College.
For more information on her book, exhibits or just general housewares history you can contact Vicki at vmatranga@housewares.org.
