The Remarkable Histories of Everyday Household Items: Unveiling the Captivating Stories behind Pillows, Forks, and More (Home Design and Decorative Arts)

From the Brand Bestselling Gifts - Visit the Store Food & Drink - Visit the Store Humor - Visit the Store Art & Design - Visit the Store

From the Publisher This book explores the fascinating stories behind more than 60 everyday household objects and furnishings. The things that fill our homes reveal a great deal about who we are, what we value, and the personal histories they hold.

Every domestic object, from the desk you write at to the chair you're sitting on, not only has a personal history but also a secret history rooted in the past. The Elements of a Home delves into the highlights of these objects' lives as they evolved into the familiar items we use today.

Discover the complex, colorful, and often surprising narratives behind the domestic objects that furnish our homes.

Cocktail Shaker The cocktail shaker is more than just an iconic symbol of a cocktail party; it also provides the soundtrack. Each clink of ice accompanies an escalation in the festivities, evoking the tempo of foxtrots and two-steps that accompanied the Manhattans and dry martinis of literary icons like Nick and Nora Charles, as well as James Bond's legendary "Vesper" martini.

Chess Set Chess is one of the oldest board games to have survived to the present day, tracing its origins to the ancient Hindu game of chaturanga. Developed in 500 C.E., the game was initially played by four opponents who used dice to determine the movement of the male chess pieces. Over time, the game evolved, losing two players and the dice, and transforming into a challenge of intellect rather than luck. This refined version of chess then spread from India to Persia and eventually to southern Europe when the Arabs conquered Persia in the seventh century.

Globe Long before Magellan's expedition conclusively proved the Earth's spherical nature, ancient Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle had already recognized the round shape of the Earth. This is evidenced by the Farnese Atlas, a Roman copy of a Greek statue from the Hellenistic period, depicting a muscular man bearing the weight of the celestial orb on his shoulders – the oldest known spherical map in existence.

Rocking Chair While the rocking chair was born in America, it was a German-Austrian furniture maker, Michael Thonet, who gave it a touch of European sophistication and polish. Inspired by metal rockers he saw at the 1851 London exhibition, Thonet invented a process to steam-bend solid wood, enabling the creation of curved chair backs and legs. Thirty years before Henry Ford, Thonet also pioneered an assembly line to mass-produce his bentwood rocking chairs, which became popular in Europe, where they had not been widely used before.

product information: