From my point of view, these kettles are telling something interesting about human civilization. They show us about how people are actually living in a constant cycle: starting from wanting a handcrafted good – wanting a hybrid of man and machine made goods – wanting factory made goods for the sake of low cost and time efficiency. Then somehow they want it all: the efficiency and beautiful practical things, then they make those two aspects collide. I think it is a similar phenomenon of wicked chairs made out of woven plastic, mass produced knitwear, or even computerised embroidery. This cycle No matter how high technology has come, the feeling of wanting to get a natural touch is always there.
I like how these objects portray contrary of design positions amongst the society in a tangible way. The similarity between two objects, yet very contradicted, I can interpret as how design can be there as a helper, or an enemy for a (in this context, marginal) society. Back in my country, as far as I know, architectural spikes (non-professionally made by house owners) are common in the neighbourhood to prevent thieves from entering the house. The same design is actually used for the same purpose: defence. In addition, the way the spike studs were treated (being put at a public space), is creating a strong different interaction between people and designs. However, I also like how the curator includes these objects there and it builds different context, as seeing a pave block in an art gallery is not what I was expecting before.