I am on the mailing list for a web site called Bestmade.com and enjoy getting their weekly updates. It is run by an artist and product designer named Peter Buchanan-Smith, who has taken practical, but interesting objects, and turned them into works of art.
He started with axes with elaborately painted handles and has moved on to other objects, each with some sort of embellishment.
Paying a premium price for one of his axes with a hand painted handle made some sense, because it combined a useful item with hand work done by a well known artist.
Bestmade.com’s latest offering, however, mystifies me. It is a line of extension cords designed to look like extension cords looked 50 years ago. They are covered in cloth rather than rubber insulation and appear to be almost impossible to properly coil. They are restricted to indoor use and the offering says they are intended for “small” appliances, but the specs do not list a wire size. If they are UL approved, I can’t find that info anywhere on the web site.
Retro for art’s sake is fine, and there is plenty about mid 20th century design that is worth preserving. However this particular item looks like a good way to burn your house down. Cloth covered extension cords were known to be subject to easy abrasion of the outer covering and were subject to being gnawed through by mice and squirrels. Their cotton outer covering is flammable and they don’t have the ability to “grip” the connectors like a rubber-jacketed cable does.
We will continue to enjoy looking at Bestmade.com’s product offerings, but really think they should reconsider selling this product.
Oh, by the way. The cost for their 10 foot extension cord? $34.00!
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Click here for extension cord safety tips.
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