Pretty much everything we do now has a purpose . We curate anInstagramaccount to become an influencer ; we play picture game on Twitch to build an audience ; we sew and forge and paint and then betray our works on Etsy . It ’s all somewhat exhausting , and it ’s wee the merriment stuff less playfulness .
match chindogu , the art and craft of inventing thing that are ( almost ) useless but a whole lot of fun . How useless ? Take innovation No . 189 from the exhibit Hall of theInternational Chindogu Society : theAC Free Charger . It recharges a rechargeable barrage fire … using power from 12 other batteries . Or design No . 341,The Sock Closet . It ’s just what it sounds like . A tiny wardrobe for your socks . There are payload more chindogu piece that take manufacture to a whole newfangled level . Hovercraft hound bedanyone ?
Do You Chindogu?
Chindogu was created by Japanese artistKenji Kawakamiin the 1990s , who describes these invention as " un - useless . " He coined the terminus chindogu using a combination of the Japanese wordschin , mean " strange " or " odd , " anddougu , which think of " equipment " or " creature . " But chindogu is more than a mashup of word ( a Gladstone , if you will ) ; it ’s a philosophy . There are10 tenets of chindogu , according to the chindogu society :
If You Build It, They Will (Sort of) Come
Kawakami protrude with a few round-eyed inventions to fulfil out the back pages of a magazine he edit . He hoped hisEye Drop Funnel Glasses and Solar - power Flashlightwould amuse readers . But if there ’s a chindogu evangelist , it would beDan Papia , who worked at another magazine , the Tokyo Journal . He brought chindogu to the magazine ’s English - speak audience and encouraged readers to create their own inventions . In 1995 , Papia depart the International Chindogu Society .
Others have get up the standard in the decades since . Maker meccaInstructablesran a chindogu competition that yielded atoothbrush lighting , afood magnifierthat perches on a duo of chopstick , andscuba mask wiper blade , all classic of the form .
What We Talk About When We Talk About Chindogu
The real keystone to ( almost ) useless inventions is that , at first glance , they have to seem a bit reasonable . Then , after a moment ’s thought process , you realise they ’re just no better than the common way of doing thing .
Take thebutter joystick , which is like a gargantuan tube of lip balm , but with butter inside . Just swipe it on that corn whisky on the cob at the next barbeque . But wait , what if it ’s raging on the elbow room to the party and the butter melts in your bag ? Or what if you do n’t use it all quickly enough and it molds ? Or what if you misidentify it for your back talk balm and smear it on your nerve ? Hey , that last example might be a feature article , not a bug .
The total philosophy of chindogu is probably best tote up up byTenet VI :
Book to survive by .
