AfriGadget recently posted an article about metal working in Kenya that looked at how these enterprising workers make tools out of found/discarded objects, e.g., old bike into bellows. Check it out in action:
This interested me because I’m fascinated by iron works, would love to sweat behind a mask and gloves making metal sculpture — gigantic pieces like Louise Bourgeois’ spiders. (Of course the Kenyans in the AfriGadget post are going at it bare-faced and bare-knuckled.)
It also reminded me of my dad in Turkey. Whenever he needs to fix his boat, he drives out into the countryside and visits a man who can make anything you describe to him. It’s also like my character Antigone (shameless novel promotion coming!), who builds robots out of parts she scavenges from recycle shops and junkyards.
Which is why it’s always fun to have heaps of old electronics laying around, ready to be made into the next cool gadget.
LINKS:
- A Defiant Despite (my novel)
- “Re-use in the (unofficial) Kenyan Ironworks Industry” (AfriGadget)
- Louise Bourgeois’ “Spiders” ( NYC, 2001)
- Crouching Spider-Louise Bourgeois (San Francisco, 2008)
