David Crowley, in his introduction to the article, asks what the “phantasmagoria” behind commodity culture. What is Thwaites’ goal with this venture?
Crowley says that “phantasmagoria”, a concept adopted by most corporations manufacturing consumer products, is Crowley’s. They don’t know the process that lead to a product being placed on supermarket shelves. They are without history, and they appear as if through magic. Thwaites makes a toaster entirely from scratch in order to show the manufacturing process (Thwaites 2011, Thwaites). This initiative will be sold in retail stores and also recounts some of the difficulties and success stories.
2. Thwaites wants to make a toaster. What does the item look like?
Thwaites intends to create a toaster similar to what is available in shops. Thwaites (2011) states that he uses copper, iron and nickel for his building materials. For the wires and prongs of an electric plug, copper is used. Iron was also used for the steel grilling and pop-upspring. It’s used to heat the air (Thwaites 2011,). Thwaites selected a toaster to illustrate his mistaken belief in simplicity at low costs.
These are his “guidelines”. These are the reasons he chose these rules.
Thwaites must ensure that the toaster he makes is identical to any available in stores. This is because Thwaites believes store-bought toasters make it easy and are cheaper. Thwaites (2011) states that each component must be hand-made. Thwaites would like to start with the core elements. These are the raw materials that are taken from the earth. Thwaites’ third requirement is that the toaster be made on a domestic scale. Thwaites plans to produce the toaster himself, using his own resources. He would make a smaller scale product, which is not often mass-produced.