an exhibition from the collections of yoav ziv and
gad charny, curated jointly with yaacov kaufman,
and exhibited at his studio. the exhibition contains
nearly 300 pegs, old and new, from all over the
world.

a daily, mundane, banal object, which we all seem
to posses, though we rarely look at. the ‘silent
servants’..... an object so basic yet so useful,
that has the quality of serving many functions in
addition to it's original one. it can be used to hang
stuff, to hold, to fasten, endless number of
uses, almost as versatile as the office clip.

part of the exhibition explores what uses people
put clothes pegs to. an object that crosses cultural
and geographical boundaries, we all have the same
need, most of us solve the problem in a similar way.

there are exceptions, for example in india clothes
are often dried by laying them on bushes, or spreading
them over the steps of the ghats.

one would have expected the pegs to disappear,
with the appearance of the drying machines, but they
have survived the technological change. on the
contrary, the number of different clothes pegs seems
only to be growing.

the peg is a simple object - usually made of up
to three parts - plain and with a clear defined purpose.
or that reason it is fascinating to observe the endless
variations on such a simple basic concept. the whole
issue of the relationship between form and function,
user and use, style, shape, adornment, engineering,
production, technical and structural solutions - all can
be observed, looking at clothes pegs.

numerous reasons can be observed for the different
variations in form and functional interpretations - it is
exciting to see how many variations can be generated
for such a minimal structure - a lesson in the evolution of
products, a lesson in change as inherent human need,
as well as the need to interpret, to innovate, to say the
same thing differently.

we have noted some of the categories of change or
variations, such as visual typology, style and attempts
to ‘uplift’ the product an it's design, structure or the
mechanical principle, materials, functional interpretations
(such as ‘locking’ pegs), visual mutations, cultural
reflections, such as the chinese bamboo peg, bearing
the family name on it, to distinguish it in a communal space,
or the huge japanese carpet peg.

always refreshing and intriguing to see new
interpretations of the same theme, adopting a new point
of view, fresh approach.

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gad charny, yoav ziv and yaacov kaufman
would be grateful to receive more cloth pegs,
from people around the world.

for more information email:
clothpeg@gmail.com

send your pegs to the following address:
yaacov kaufman
(pegs)
id department - bezalel
mount scopus campus
p.o. box 24046
jerusalem 91240
israel