The Paperclip 2.0

We’ve ALL seen this Gif of a machine making paper clips, which forces me to ask one question. Did the paper clip’s design influence the construction of the dedicated machine? Or was it the other way around? Did the industry’s limitations result in the clip being shaped that way? And more importantly, why have we blindly been following this design for the past 150 years?? (BTW, interesting fact, but the paper-clip was patented in 1867, exactly 150 years ago)

Areaware thinks the old paper-clip design needs to be retired, much like Clippy, Microsoft’s annoyingly helpful Office Assistant. Their new series of paper-clips are made from spring steel and started off as simple line drawings which were later transformed into beautiful pieces of art that don’t just clip pieces of paper together, but rather decorate them, bringing just the right amount of design intervention to the mundane.

Designer: Daphna Laurens (Areaware)

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Sarang Sheth

Sarang is the co-editor in chief of Yanko Design. He is a former industrial designer at a Bangalore-based multidisciplinary design studio, working in areas including appliances, FMCG, packaging, technology, luxury, etc. Sarang has written about design and technology for over a decade and has been a jury member on international design awards. He occasionally works on tech concepts featured on Forbes, The Verge, Hypebeast, Digital Trends, SlashGear, Tom's Guide, LetsGoDigital, and Unbox Therapy. Sarang graduated from MIT Institute of Design, Pune.

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