So I have asked lil iffi to step aside as I begin to devote space for my stapler collection. I am going to call “sure things”. It started as a lark with a EM 230 Paris model I bought for a bargain. I love the streamline look and the fact that it was French didn’t hurt. That was in July of 2009, a year ago. 60 some staplers later I have become a stapler aficionado. I reference them on a historic perspective, learned to clean them, checked out their patents and created art using them.
Hotchkiss 101A Zephyr c1937
I am starting with the last one I purchased, the Hotchkiss 101A Zephyr Stapler. E. H. Hotchkiss put it’s first stapler on the market in 1895 so by the time the Zephyr came along Hotchkiss had tacked up quite a few stapler designs. In my opinion the Zephyr design by R. Heller is the best of all the Hotchkiss staplers and possible the best designed stapler I own. Hotchkiss was the number one American stapler for years until the 1940′s when Swingline (Speed Fasteners) dethroned them.
I haven’t created a 3D version as of yet but I will. Compared to others I have created this will be fairly easy although I will pay attention to the subtleties, the slope, the swoop and the tapering. None of it necessary for a stapler to work but creatively ingenious.
Hotchkiss 101A Zephyr Rear view.
And how about the name “Zephyr” it was the name of a Streamline train which started the whole look. After that the product world became Zephyr crazy with the likes of the Lincoln Zephyr, Zephyr thermostat, Zephyr Radio. So why not the stapler!
