Art Prints

Isaac Merritt Singer came from humble beginnings. Working in a machine-shop in Boston in 1851, he was given a sewing machine to repair. He construc...

Metal-framed handbags have a surprisingly long history. By the fifteenth century, metal clasps were already being used instead of simple drawstring...

The major difference between a mannequin and a dress form is the layer of foam and cloth on top of its inner shell, which enables craftsmen and des...

A dress form is a model of the torso used for fitting clothing in the process of it being designed or sewed. Some call the dress form that represen...

During World War II, although cosmetics were rationed, the lipstick was the only cosmetic that was kept in production under Winston Churchill's ins...

Starting with the Hobart Model-H in 1914, followed by the domestic model in 1919, the food mixer has since become a key kitchen item, often the mos...

The craze for the hourglass figure peaked in popularity in the Victorian period when steel boning was used to shape the waist. When completely lace...

With the absence of gears, old fashioned bikes relied on having bigger wheels to propel a bigger push from the pedals for speed. The large wheel al...

Purses and handbags have been a practical necessity, as well as a fantastic fashion accessory which can be traced as far back as the 14th Century. ...

The first fountain pen with a built in reservoir was produced in 1844. The first nibs were made of gold alloys. They were often dipped in a hard me...

Depending on where we are on the globe, some of us are spinning through space at just over 1,000 miles per hour. Those positioned on the equator mo...

Early forks were used in the royal courts of the Middle East going as far back as the 7th Century. By the end of the 1600s, forks in Europe had evo...

Coffee is the second most traded product in the world after petroleum. The Grand Café, in Oxford, is the site where England’s first coffeehouse was...

Show jumping began on July 28, 1868. At the inaugural Dublin Horse Show, where the competition went on for four days, the sport was then known as L...

First established in 1903, Harley-Davidson created their first motorcycle in a humble ten by fifteen wooden shed. Their vision was to create motori...

Until the 1890s, there were no golf bags, and caddies simply tied a strap around the clubs. The word, caddy is derived from the French word “cadet”...

The English inventor Henry Mill had patented a similar machine long ago in 1714, which never seems to have gone into production. The QWERTY keyboar...

Made of lead, early toy trains had no moving parts with only some made with wheels that would actually turn. From around 1875 onwards, with better ...

Ancient civilisations made spoons from materials including wood, bone, rock, gold, silver and ivory. Today, stainless steel is the most common mate...

Early tea bags were hand-sewn fabric bags, with patents dating as early as 1903 with their first commercial appearance around 1904. Traditional Eng...

First depicted on the sides of ancient Egyptian tombs and in Mesopotamian culture, the harp is one of the oldest instruments in the world, dating b...

Headphones were introduced in the 70s for home-listening of records, weighing 1 to 2 kg. When Sony released the Walkman, the demand rose for portab...

The modern violin has been around for around 500 years, which is said to have been designed in the 1500’s by Andrea Amati. The modern violins have ...

Brushes can be made using badger, boar, or horse hair. Material of the handles include plastic, wood, porcelain, ivory, tortoiseshell, crystal, sil...

If all the LEGO bricks sold in a year were lined up end to end, it would reach over 5 times around the globe. The word “Lego” dervies from the firs...

The Porsche 911 is undoubtedly one of the most iconic names in motoring, yet this name was initially set to be called the Porsche 901 - it was stop...

A buoy is a floating device that serve various purposes. It can be anchored at a location to guide or to warn mariners. It can serve to mark positi...

Blank audio cassettes saw record sales in 1996 of over 2 billion. Although there are no precise figures, it is estimated that around 30 billion cas...

On board the Voyager, currently nearly 12 billion miles away from earth, are two of the most famous records in the universe. The Golden Records fea...

The most expensive guitar sold for $2.8million at an auction to raise money for victims of a 2004 earthquake. It featured signatures including Mick...

First models of bicycles were called velocipedes, which were created in France, but its modern design was born in England. Today over 100 million b...

Archaeologists have found glass bottles dating as far early as 1400 BC by the Egyptians. Glass can be recycled indefinitely without losing its qual...

The oldest brewery is believed to be Weihenstephan in Freising, Germany, where their licensing history goes back to 1040 AD. They have continued br...

An innkeeper in the mid 19thC, whilst using two containers to pour drinks back and forth, noticed the mouth of one container being smaller than the...

Wine was stored in jugs, oil cloth and pieces of woods used instead of corks as we know today. In the 17th century it became more common to have co...

The first patented corkscrew in England was by Samuel Henshaw in 1795. However, earlier designs of a corkscrew was based on a tool called a gun wor...