Hidden Heroes – a celebration of everyday things – opened at the Museum last week and it’s certainly opened our eyes to just how much we use these items. Especially every time we open our drawer for a new pen or pop another post it note on someone’s desk.
This realisation also got us talking about the objects’ other uses, their re-appropriation if you like.
Most people thought that they never used paperclips because they work on a computer most of the time. But when we asked them how they put their new sim card into the iphone’s they were holding, the answer was pretty much a unanimous ‘paperclip’.
Post it notes are a staple element of any to do list in our office and we even realised that when at home if we ever need to restart our wireless router a ballpoint pen is always the instrument of choice!
After discovering these other uses we started looking at some of the more creative uses for these Hidden Heroes.
The paperclip has become an inspiration for artists and designers alike. Tim Sterling makes beautiful, intricate sculptures out of paperclips.
And we discovered this great post it art coming out of a group of offices in Paris.
And striking abstract works of art by collaging used tea bags from Armén Rotch:
This theme of appropriation is explored further in the exhibition. We have a print of David Mach’s giant coat hanger sculpture alongside our wire coat hangers and a portrait of Mike Tyson made completely out of scotch tape.
The more we talk to people the more anecdotes and insights we gather. Which is where you come in…
Henry Ford said that ‘Every object tells a story’ and we want to hear your stories. Tell us your genius uses for these everyday objects in the comments below, or on Twitter with the hashtag #HiddenHeroes
Or if you want to get really creative why not upload your own art work made out of these everyday objects to our Facebook page.