The Broom
April 24, 2022
I have been thinking a lot about brooms. Maybe it’s because people often ask me what I’m making next, now that I have made a clock. Maybe it’s because I sweep our kitchen several times a day, and sort of enjoy it — it’s like vacuuming, but without the noise and the always tangled cord.
A friend introduced me to a book called Super Normal: Sensations of the Ordinary (as part of a review for the OneClock blog). She writes, “Is an object’s beauty in its enduring ubiquity? In its uncanny ability to bring pleasure despite being otherwise unremarkable? Is its presence undeniable? Its absence unimaginable? Yes? It’s probably Super Normal.”
Scissors, tape dispensers, salt shakers, water glasses, shovels — everyday objects that we use frequently without thinking much. Many of these designs have evolved over decades or centuries to arrive in their current iteration. When these items, through use and refinement are distilled to the essence of their form + function, they cease being normal, and become Super Normal.
So, brooms. They have been around forever, and are pretty simple. But where can I find a broom that is more than just a broom — one that is Super Normal? Thus, the search began. I visited McGuckin, our local hardware store and one of my favorite places (so much possibility!) to find a pretty standard selection of the usual synthetic and corn versions.
Student at Berea College, brooming
From there it was on to scouring the interwebs far and wide for something else. Lots of weird, witchy, wizardy options on Etsy. Brooms made with hockey sticks, and musical instruments for handles. Berea College, a liberal arts school in Kentucky, has been making and selling brooms for over 100 years. The dyed corn brooms are pretty cool, and have some nice crafty details.
Unsurprisingly, I found some cool stuff in Japan. Shuro brooms are made with with the bark of a kind of palm tree. They look unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and they’re expensive, with prices starting around $200. According to one Japanese broom merchant, “when properly cared for, it is not uncommon for people to use a shuro broom for 20 years or more.”
I found another place in Japan where you can order a broom that costs $10,000 and takes three years to make. For some mysterious reason, the corn in the Nanbu region of Japan grows in a way that makes the ends extra wavy and extra awesome for sweeping. Fascinating.
I love the idea of using a beautiful broom twice a day for the next 20 years. That’s a lot of quality broom time. But the thought of just buying a broom isn’t really interesting enough. How do I make it special? Can a broom be cool?
Tom Sachs, Lay Some Pipe, 2014
I was reminded of something Jasper Johns once said, “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.” Which made me think about Tom Sachs’ Boombox project where he took an ordinary object and elevated it to extraordinary by applying his bricolage material vernacular. Really, all of Tom Sachs’ work is extraordinary.
I’m going to try to make a Super Ordinary broom, and see where it goes. Stay tuned.