Tools 06: To Blow

The fifth issue of the annual magazine that promotes know-how and technique in design, craft or industry looks at the act of blowing: an issue about breath, wind, lungs, pneumatics, instruments, birds, balloons, crystal, bouncy castles, and all kinds of other things that come to life with air.

We admit it: we chose this theme in part because it makes us laugh. In French, souffler (to blow), gonfler (to inflate), and faire du vent (to talk a lot while saying nothing; literally, "to blow wind") are relatively innocent. In English, "to blow" can be much more ambiguous. All the better. We like words that can't be contained by their own definitions. And "to blow" can also mean to fail at something; "to blow up" can mean to explode, or to do away with assumptions and start over; and of course, you can "blow someone's mind." This is a great way to sum up what we try to do in every issue: start with a simple word and see how far it can take us. This time, we go where the wind blows.

Tools magazine is the brainchild of Clémentine Berry, who also founded the Twice art direction studio in Paris. This annual publication aims to simultaneously promote and investigate the details of manufacturing techniques and expertise used in art, design, interior architecture, industry and trade. Each issue focuses on a particular technique (moulding, folding, etc.), and the theme is used to select feature subjects and pieces, as well as the persons interviewed. Tools is crafted as a comprehensive inventory of design techniques. Weaving together past and present, it draws on history to illustrate how techniques have been handed down through the ages, paying homage to the creators behind the cult objects we use in our everyday lives, and whose work embodies the stories that lie at the very genesis of our shared human ingenuity.