Pink Paper Clips 📎
Some time ago, a friend of mine presented me with a pink pack of paper clips, knowing my amusing obsession with office supplies that we both share. These paper clips have been resting on my desk for weeks, not fulfilling their original purpose but instead brightening my mood whenever I catch sight of their shiny pink hue. This led me to wonder whether companies have started manufacturing them in such colors, possibly suggesting the association with the typically low-paid secretarial or receptionist roles, often held by women who frequently use such office supplies. At the same time, I struggled to recall if I had ever encountered paper clips in any color besides the standard metallic grey in corporate environments.
I find the German translation of "paper clip" - "Büroklämmern" - quite fitting, with the first word "Büro" implying their workplace. After all, they have primarily been used in office settings. However, I also wondered whether these paper clips originated from somewhere unrelated. The first image I stumbled upon when googling the term "clip" was a clothespin. Strangely, I found their purpose similar - both intended to secure cloth or paper effortlessly. Perhaps my mind was attempting to imagine some peculiar connection between the perceived feminine nature of these paper clips and the domestic utility of clothespins. Maybe I was giving too much significance to these seemingly mundane pieces of plastic.
As I delved into the history of paper clips, I realized I had been searching for answers in the wrong places. The origins of paper clips are closely linked to bureaucracy. The late nineteenth-century industrialization, accompanied by a surge in bureaucracy, led to a significant rise in the number of offices worldwide, and with offices came paperwork. The clerk, as Adrian Forty notes in "Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since 1750," became the central figure responsible for managing this paperwork. The clerk occupied an ambiguous position - achieving middle-class respectability yet often lacking managerial authority and a corresponding salary. These clerks were frequently surrounded by papers needing organization into cubbyholes or bundling with string - a new form of urgent yet essentially meaningless work.
The proliferation of paperwork required a new method of paper organization, inspiring the invention of the paper clip. The first patented paper clip was the Fay Paper Clip (also known as the Philadelphia) in 1867. Subsequently, numerous inventors sought patents for various paper clip designs, each striving to devise the most efficient way to fasten multiple pieces of paper with a single piece of metal. The Early Office Museum has identified 65 different types of paper clips, ranging from the first patent in 1867 to the Vee-Clip, first marketed in 1966, to some unidentified clips from different years. These clips vary significantly in design, shape, and size.
Looking at the catalogue of the paper clips, my mind couldn’t stop but envision a scene of a clerk monotonously attaching these clips to papers while dreaming of a future with less meaningless work...
Despite now using paper clip emojis also digitally, office life isn't fundamentally different from what it was a century ago. Similar to the paper clips we hold onto dearly. Just perhaps in more different colors.Â
Best,
Slow Mondays