Why a Toaster?
"I see. So, why a toaster?
Well, I guess because they break all the time. [This was not a brilliant answer. I knew it, and Professor Cilliers clearly expected more of an answer to a question quite fundamental to the project. At a loss, I played the artist card...] And well, you know, a toaster just feels right.
[Oh dear. A toaster “feels” right.] "
...
"The reason that I want to create a toaster, specifically an electric toaster, is because the electric toaster, like no other object, seems to me to encapsulate something of the essence of the modern age. To understand how they achieved this status, we’ll have to look back at how they came to be such a mainstay of kitchen life for the peoples of the world who toast."
--The Toaster Project, by Thomas Thwaites
If I was given a similar task: choose an object that represents today and make it out of scratch. At this very moment in history, I am really tempted to choose smart phone as the object that represent the 21st century. However, I can never build it. In fact, I can come up with a measurement rubric that dictates the level of difficulty in performing particular assemblage for a functional tool. An IPhone might be much more difficult to make in comparison to a toothpaste. The labor it needs and the technology it encompasses is far more advanced and nuanced. Yet, one may also argue that a toothpaste is more difficult to make, for it is important to achieve the right amount of chemicals: calcium carbonate,dehydrated silica gels, hydrated aluminum oxides, magnesium carbonate, phosphate salts, and silicates. For all these years, I only knew "floride" as one of the major ingredient in toothpaste.
Therefore, why a toaster?
Why not a toothpaste? It marked a new paradigm of the human race: hygienic and healthy.
Why not ball pen or paper clip? It marked the shift in ink production, organisational methods, and modern mark making.
Why not plastic bag? Why not socks? Why not chocolate? Why?
I guess there are a lot of things that are as intricate as a toaster. Thwaites just happened to chose the toaster. He could have probably chosen some other object that could potentially be as difficult. But, by instinct, a toaster it is.