Mass production is not contemporary. As far back as antiquity, workshops and artisans organized their production to meet the demand of customers regarding some very popular items. Successful items showed a match between their shape and their purpose. Signatures or maker’s marks, which can be compared to the present trademarks and brand names, began to appear.
Artefacts appealing to the many, mass production, maker’s marks are features which are close to contemporary industrial design.
LE COMMERCE DANS L’EMPIRE ROMAIN DES Ier ET IIe SIÈCLES © Studio Indélebil
Goods were transported throughout the Roman Empire by sea or on carts which ran on roads still visible in the countryside today.
During the first two centuries AD peace and stability prevailed. The much-celebrated Pax Romana boosted trade; it reached an extent comparable to the present world situation. Some commercial products were available throughout the world as then known.
Poinçon de potier en os pour l’impression en creux de l’estampille (signature), la Graufesenque. Coll. Musée de Millau et des Grands Causses
A signature – or maker’s mark - designates the artisan who had made an object. It is either composed of the three names commonly used in the Roman world, or of an abbreviation of a simpler name. A signature is sometimes described as a stamp. It is affixed on the mould or the model (called archetype) with a stylus or a seal. Then it can be reproduced in large numbers. So, maker’s marks, which were affixed with a stylus or a seal, played the role of our present logos.
Estampille sur col d’amphore estampillé CAPITOF, provenance sablière Lenglet, Bavay, Coll. Forum antique de Bavay, Musée archéologique du département du Nord
© Studio Indélébil
The working principle of the ballpoint pen was discovered by a Hungarian journalist named Joseph Ladislav Biro (1899-1985). He devised the use of a fast-drying ink, similar to that used for printing newspapers. After watching children playing marbles in a puddle, he had the idea of using a tiny ball to take up ink from a reservoir and deposit it on the paper. Biro sold his patent to Marcel Bich, a Frenchman. In 1952, the latter started industrial production of pens with a transparent reservoir and a colourfed cap. The Bic pen was born. It was not until 1965 that the Bic pen entered the class-room, which made ink stained fingers no more than a bad memory.
Coupe sigillée, terre cuite, Ier-IIe siècles, provenance site de la Graufesenque. Coll. Musée de Millau et des Grands Causses
Terra sigillata/ decorated clay ware was first produced at Arezzo (Etruria) in the first century BC. Later it was made available in the whole Roman Empire. Standardized pieces of tableware of a nice glossy red, sometimes decorated with stylus drawn motives, were manufactured by moulding or at the potter’s wheel on a very large scale. Archaeologists use the term “industry” to designate this mass production. In Gaul, over the first three centuries AD, the main workshops moved to the centre and later to the east of the country. In the first century, the Graufesenque workshops, situated near the present town of Millau (Aveyron) enjoyed a monopoly. Over the next two centuries, Graufesenque was progressively overshadowed by Lezoux (near Clermont-Ferrand, Puy de Dôme). Thanks to terra sigillata/decorated clay ware, the middle class could enjoy luxury tableware which imitated the prestigious bronze or silver dishes, plates and cups of the elite.
Poinçon décoratif, terre cuite. Coll. Musée départemental de la Céramique à Lezoux - Puy-de-Dôme
© Studio Indélébil
As a school-boy Guy Degrenne appeared more interested in drawing cutlery on his note book than in listening to his teachers. His headmaster said : “My poor Degrenne, that’s not the right way to be successful in life”. For decades, this has served him as an advertisement. Guy Degrenne took classic designs of the great Parisian silversmiths and manufactured them in solid stainless steel. He made elegant, reliable and modern cutlery for the middle class and so contributed to making high quality table cutlery widely available.
À gauche : Amphore vinaire gauloise de type 4, terre cuite, Ier siècle, Coll. Forum antique de Bavay, Musée archéologique du département du Nord
À droite : Amphore pour les conserves de poissons de type Dressel 9, terre cuite, Ier siècle, Coll. Musées de Langres
Antique amphorae were obtained by mass production on a large scale. They could be identified by their shapes. At a glance, a local shopkeeper of the Lingon people (area of Châtillon sur Seine) would have said what they contained and where they came from: Italian wine, Gallic wine, oil, Spanish fish sauce.
© Studio Indélébil
What would Coca-Cola be without its bottle ? The bottle was designed by Alexander Samuel in 1915 as the result of a competition to create“ a bottle so distinct that you would recognize it in the dark”. Its shape, called “contour” was inspired by the cocoa bean, but its celebrity stems from its likeness to a female silhouette. From that time the Coca-Cola bottle has represented an stylish woman wearing a sheath dress that enhances her curves. Now it can be found all over the world.
Moule de déesse mère et figurine de déesse mère, terre cuite blanche, fin IIe – début IIIe siècle, provenance Autun, quartier artisanal de la Genetoye, Coll. Centre d’archéologie et du Patrimoine « Alain Rebourg », Service archéologique de la Ville d’Autun et Musée Rolin, Autun
Terra-cotta/ceramic figurines used to be placed on family altars, at home. They would also accompany a deceased in his grave. Many deities were represented : Venus and mother goddesses were the most popular; Risus (a laughing person), busts of children or animals could be found as well. Mass production by moulding from a model, called archetype, made it possible to disseminate such items on a large scale. Such standardized terra-cotta/ceramic figurines were easy to identify and cheaper than bronze statuettes. They bear testimony to the religion practised by the people.
Partie supérieure d’un moule de lampe à huile et lampe à huile, terre cuite, époque gallo-romaine, provenance sablière Mathieu-Denimal et Lenglet, Bavay. Coll. Forum antique de Bavay, Musée archéologique du département du Nord
Oil lamps, originally coming from Italy or from Africa, with or without decoration, appealed to Gallic people. They were readily copied in the workshops of Narbonne, Rhone valley and Allier valley. Lamps were made with a two-part mould, each one originating either from an archetype or from an existing lamp, the holes of which had been previously blocked (over moulding). Moulding and over moulding made it possible to reproduce models and makers' marks of Mediterranean workshops ; we do not know if such copies were sold as imitations or counterfeits.
A fibula – whose latest avatar is a safety pin – is a device for fastening clothing. It appeared around 1000BC. Mass production was evidenced by the discovery of moulds for casting clusters of fibulae. In the first century, fibulae from Nauheim (Moselle) were popular from the Mediterranean to the Rhine Valley. They were common also on the west coast and in England. Conversely, some fibulae were manufactured in a specific workshop with a limited local selling area. They bear witness to a regional culture.
© Franck Dujoux et Olivier Foulon
Utilitarian re-use does not keep the original function of objects. Fragments are selected : Parts of the belly (of amphorae) were used for pipework or underfloor space, handles for pestles, and the feet were cut into rounds and served as stoppers. Such an attitude is not exclusive to antiquity. It has existed all over the world from time immemorial. The photographic work of Franck Dujoux and Olivier Foulon draws our attention to this phenomenon, observable today in the Burgundy countryside
Franck Dujoux constantly builds bridges between his various activities : he would merge graphic design with photography and various forms of art related to urban and country environment. For many years he participated in collective exhibitions with an outlandish and critical gaze on our surroundings. In 2007, he imagined in collaboration with Michel Kowalski as curator, “ The Monobloc Project ” a roaming concept which pays tribute to the modest white plastic chair, a forgotten icon of design.
You can follow The Monobloc Project on Facebook and Instagram.
PLASTIC CHAIR SWING : Elle est légère. Elle a des accoudoirs pour accrocher une corde. De la Monobloc à la balançoire, il n’y a qu’un pas. Une photo prise au Venezuela © Alvaro Stephens.
