Comparing and Contrasting

(left) Photo Link: http://www.mysmokingshop.co.uk/index2.php?mod=mancats&man=253&sec=1500
(right) Photo Link: http://www.dejarpipes.com/newhyperlinks/5710.htm

There are many different forms of an object that have originated since its original form first appeared. This is the power of design. It takes an original product and through the ideas and creativity of many people, different forms are created. What’s similar about these pipes? What’s different?

The similarities I see are that they are both briar pipes with a black mouth piece that’s used for smoking. Aside from this, their shapes and structure is very different from each other. On the left is a manufactured briar pipe made by the Royal Dutch Pipe Factory. Although its stem and bowl is brown like the pipe on the right, it exhibits a darker brown color, which has been carved a little to produce a shade of a lighter color than its main focus of color. Before the manufacturing of pipes, pipes were made by hand, such as the image on the right. That is a hand-made briar pipe crafted by Dejarnett. It has a lighter brown color, almost looking like orange, and is carved to give the pipe two different colors. The manufactured pipe has a roundish bowl, with its mouth piece curved out while the hand crafted pipe has a bowl that resembles the top part of a hammer. Its mouth piece is also much smaller than the manufactured one.

Aside from their physical differences, these pipes also have differences in how they were made. The hand crafted pipe most likely took more time to make than the manufactured pipe because it was made in a factory. Besides time, the hand crafted pipe is also unique because there is only one of this pipe in the world while there could exist many manufactured briar pipe, since it comes from a manufacturing company.

We often see many different forms of the same thing, but each design has its own uniqueness that appeals to people. Although there are lots of different things in the design society, they are all connected by a similarity that relates to its original form and function, showing the diversity and creativeness of designers today.