Inspired by Scarcity

Inspired by scarcity Life during wartime

Extend

Food

Butter extender United Kingdom, United States World War II

- 1 package of plain gelatin - 1 lb. of better (softened) - 2 cups of milk - 1 teaspoon salt Mix them in a bowl with the hot water, pour it into the small rectangular plastic container and refrigerate it until solid. Although the butter extender was introduced as a temporary recipe

to get through the serious food shortage, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s produced and sold as the low-fat butter.

- Book Robert Opie, The Wartime Scrapbook: On the Home fromt 1939 to 1945, pi global publishing limited, 2005 - Book Richard Panchyk, World Wr II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities, Chicago Review Press, 2003

Divide

Food

Mars chocolate campaign Mars, United Kingdom World War II

Even if chocolate is cut into pieces, the whole amount does not change. But it might have satisfied children psychologically.

- Book Mike Brown & Carol Harris, The Wartime House: Home Life in Wartime Britain 1939-1945, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2001

Cut-down

Transportation

Scooter -bike with a small front tirethe Netherlands 1944-45

If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have enough rubber to make a bike tire, just make it smaller. What a simple solution. It is said that it was not exactly comfortable to ride on this newinvented vehicle.

- Book Gerjan Heij, Het dagelijks leven in de jaren â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;40, Terra, 2008 - Book Johannes van Miert, Oorlog en bezetting : Nederland 1940-1945 in woord, beeld en geluid, Kosmos-Z&K, 1995

Multiuse

Furnishing / Military

Mattress lifesaver United States World War I

“THEIR MATTRESSES WILL SAVE THEM. Besides providing restful accommodations, these mattresses belonging to recruits at the Newport Naval Training Station - are also efficient life preservers.” (Illustrated World. June 1917) Much unreliable than the armour but better than nothing. At least, they could run away or fight with little more than

- Website Modern Mechanix, http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2009/12/04/war-sidelights/

the clothes on one’s back.

Substitute

Commodity

Ceramic metal houseware Japan and other countries

Because of serious metal shortage, many metal housewares were replaced by ceramic, which was plentiful even wartime.

- Exhibition Permanent Exhibition, Setogura, 2010 - Book Seto: Seto government 70th aniversary magazine - Website Invitation to Douguology: ceramic substitution, http://www.studio-mira.com/Douguology/KOZA%20Bbox02.html

- Website Wartime ceramic catalog, http://touseizufu.exblog.jp/ - Website Imperial army and navy: Commodities after the war, http://www13.ocn.ne.jp/~seiroku/daiyouhin.html - Website Invitation to Douguology: ceramic substitution, http://www.studio-mira.com/Douguology/KOZA%20Bbox02.html

Imitate

Fashion

Liquid Stockings United Kingdom World War II, after 1940

Nylon stockings were introduced to women in the US on May 15th, 1940. However, because of nylon and silk shortage, the substitution were suggested soon. Cover the legs with liquid paint and draw a “seam” up the backs of the legs by using an eyebrow pencil. “Beauty goes to extremes ... here’s a tip for stockingless legs. If you

can’t buy stocking make-up, sponge the legs with a few grain of permanganate of potash dissolved in warm water. Be sure to test on the sole of one foot first because it won’t wash off for days. Do this before a special occasion on which you want to look your nicest.”

- Book Mike Brown & Carol Harris, The Wartime House: Home Life in Wartime Britain 1939-1945, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2001 - Website Smithsonian’s History Explorer: Leg Silque Liquid Stockings, http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu/artifacts/resource.asp?id=1214 - Website Kitsch-Slapped: After Stocking Panic, Women Made-Up, http://www.kitsch-slapped.com/2009/11/after-stocking-panic-women-made-up/

- Website Kitsch-Slapped: After Stocking Panic, Women Made-Up, http://www.kitsch-slapped.com/2009/11/after-stocking-panic-women-made-up/ - Website Modern Mechanix: Cream Replaces Silk Stockings, http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/04/15/cream-replaces-silk-stockings/ - Website corbis IMAGES, http://www.corbisimages.com/

Protect

Transportation

Armed car United States World War II

“Every automobile in the United States is potentially an armored car, under a plan recently proposed to aid the national defense program. The scheme would provide tanklike bodies of half-inch steel which could be speedily mounted on the chassis of standard cars. Swarms of these “minute man tanks,” the proponents claim, would prove an invaluable

aid in combating invaders and parachute troops.” -Popular Science(December, 1940)

- Website Modern Mechanix; Bulletproof Body Turns Any Auto into an Armored Car (Dec, 1940), http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/11/28/ bulletproof-body-turns-any-auto-into-an-armored-car/

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Inspired by Scarcity

Published on Oct 23, 2011

Hanae Shimizu

During times of crisis such as World War I and World War II, the world found itself seeking new ways of dealing with scarcity. Unusual materials and make-shift designs surfaced. Milk was transformed into textiles, irons were made out of ceramics, and handles were eliminated from teacups. Scarcity was a constraint that forged creative thinking. To live is to be creative. Even war could not prevent this fundamental human nature from expressing itself. It is easy to forget about this essential notion in modern life. To reconnect and remember the creativity possibilities that accompany scarcity, stories about different methods of dealing with scarcity were collected from all possible sources and compiled into this book. The book was divided into 7 different categories according to method: Extend, divide, multiuse, cut down, substitute, imitate, and protect.