2 posts tagged “paperclip”

I've been trying to find a few minutes here and there to find out more about Norway since we're going to be living there in three months. I've found a couple less appealing things like Smalahove, a special Norwegian dish usually served around Christmas featuring half of a sheep's head. And "My Boobs Are OK", bubble gum pop Norwegian hit from 2006. I have a hard time understanding how this song ever got made as anything other than a youtube prank, but it made it to #5 on the Norwegian pop charts.

But tonight, I discovered some Norway trivia that is interesting and fun and makes me feel like the place is calling out to me. A Norwegian invented the paperclip! This totally feeds my paperclip fetish! According to about.com:

Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor with a degree in electronics, science and mathematics, invented the paperclip in 1899. He received a patent for his design from Germany in 1899, since Norway had no patent laws at that time. Johan Vaaler was an employee at a local invention office when he invented the paperclip. He received an American patent in 1901 -- patent abstract  "It consists of forming same of a spring material, such as a piece of wire, that is bent to a rectangular, triangular, or otherwise shaped hoop, the end parts of which wire piece form members or tongues lying side by side in contrary directions." Johan Vaaler was the first person to patent a paperclip design, although other unpatented designs might have existed first.

So there I have it, a good reason to go! Maybe there's a statue or a paperclip museum. Must do more research. And for those of you into bubblegum pop...

I went looking for a paperclip yesterday and found a package of them in my office-supply-closet-from-Hades, where angels, but not mice, fear to tread. I had no idea I had such designer paper clips, all stripy and colorful and textured. This inspired me to take a peek online to find out what other nouveau paper clip designs there might be. Maybe I'd even start a paper clip collection! A quick google showed me that there is some serious paper clip interest in the Big World.

Early Office Museum provides a History of the Paper Clip, complete with paper clip ads and an early paper clip gallery.

Kyle MacDonald at One Red Paperclip fanagled a house out of a paperclip through a series of trades over the course of a year. (And I have a WHOLE BOX of paperclips.)

Then I found Paper Clips, The Movie. This documentary from 2004 is about a middle school project in Whitwell, TN, where students collected a paper clip for each person who died in the holocaust, collected holocaust memorobilia, built a memorial and developed a scholarship program. I wonder if this project had any basis in Operation Paperclip, a code name for extracting scientists from Nazi Germany during WWII?

For those of you who are craft-inclined, here's how to make a Paperclip Angel.

And finally Justin Schlecter's portfolio of Paperclip Art. These are very cool, mostly geometric paperclip sculptures. My personal favorite is the 180 paper clip Fancy Dodecahedron.

I think it's clear that my 10 minutes of paper clip googling have revealed a Secret Paper Clip Underworld. I had no idea there was so much interest, art and international intrigue in the lowly paper clip but now that I do, I must have more, more, more.