To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. This post was originally published on July 26, 2015. The postwar design era focused largely on improving all aspects of life at home for those who had...

After nearly sixty years of inactivity, the kilns at Jingdezhen were restored by the Kangxi emperor around 1680. Considered to be one of the greatest Chinese emperors for the progress in the natural sciences and the arts China made under his rule, the Kangxi emperor reigned from 1662 to 1722. During this time, the Jingdezhen...

In the 1930s, the Nazi party relied heavily on propaganda in order to spread its political and social views across Germany under the Third Reich. While this spread of ideas was most infamously carried out using military power, the government was also able to find its way into the homes and heads of the German...

The postwar design era focused largely on improving all aspects of life at home for those who had maintained it during the war and those who were just returning. The remodeled electric iron was one among many postwar innovations, but this Silver Streak iron in particular epitomizes the design period. The Silver Streak’s aerodynamic form...

Although now familiar tools used during power outages and camping trips, personal flashlights were revolutionary in the early twentieth century. The invention of the dry cell battery in 1896 enabled the first non-combustible lighting devices, allowing for safer handheld options than kerosene and oil lamps, candles, and torches, or other instruments previously powered by liquid...

Introduced at the 1928 Pittsburgh Glass and Pottery Exhibit, designer Reuben Haley’s Ruba Rombic forms epitomize the geometric style and ideals of American Art Deco. The Art Deco style, popularized by the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, which likely also inspired Haley, is often characterized by jagged lines and...