Part of the problem with the steampunk aesthetic is that it’s a mish-mash of at least a half-dozen eras and styles, and as a result these pseudo-Victorian mods have little substance.
The real steam-engine Victorians were industrialists and colonialists. They were all about power. Gears, pulleys, and exposed wood-grain were all functional. These guys didn’t hide those things away behind a filagreed veneer because they liked the swagger. But most self-proclaimed steampunk designs are only swagger — and they’ve usually tacked on the filagree, too.
That’s why Keen Footwear’s Portland shoestore (called Keen Garage) is so refreshing. The retro-industrial look, which refits reclaimed materials, has a stylized look, but performs important functions as well. The annotated images below give you an overview of how their setup works:
Check out the bicycle-wheel stool in the lower-left corner.
(All photos courtesy Keen Footwear)
The entire shop is only 900 square feet.
If the futurists profiled by our Charlie Sorrel are right, and interior design will be a driven by the need to maximize the utility of increasingly dwindling space, we would do well to learn some lessons from the past. After the jump, check out some more historical space-maximizing design technology.
First, though, another dig at contemporary steampunk-as-style.
Kate Beaton writes and draws a comic-historical cartoon called “Hark! A Vagrant”. My favorite strip is probably “Brunel Is Tired of These Time Traveling Assholes.” In it, the legendary inventor meets a guy straight out of faux-Victorian sci-fi who’s proud of his gear:
Time-Traveller: “Isambard Kingdom Brunel! Wow! Check out my awesome steampunk goggles.”
Brunel (bored): “What do they do?”
Time-Traveller (proudly pointing at his head): “Check it. Gears.”
Brunel (fists clenched): “Tell me they do SOMEthing.”
Time-Traveller (proudly pointing at his feet): “I put a shitload of cogs and watches on my boot.”
Here are some space-saving desks that that builder of railways and steamships would be proud of.
Keen Garage: Upcycled design mixes steampunk and outdoor footwear for a new Portland concept shop [Cool Hunting]
See Also:
- Steampunk culture: an introduction for Guardian readers
- Steam-Driven Dreams: The Wondrously Whimsical World of Steampunk
- Victorian Mod Gives iMac a Woody Look
- Even More Brazilian Steampunk
- Steampunk Robots: Beautiful Toy Nightmares
- NSFW: Make My Vibrator Vintage
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