The Safety Pin

I chose a safety pin as my object because of my extensive personal experiences with them. I grew up as a dancer, constantly using them to pin together my uniforms to make them fit. I use them in my courses, to hold together seams in skirts I am designing. I also used them to make name tags for recruitment in my sorority. The safety pin has been incredibly useful to me in the scheme of my life, without me even realizing it. I grew up using them, and constantly needing more. The safety pin is not only my savior, but the savior of dance moms everywhere. The safety pin was patented in 1849, by Walter Hunt. However, the very first form of safety pins date all the way back to the Mycenaean’s in the 14th century BCE. The modern safety pin, patented by Hunt, was created in order to design a more efficient piece of machinery for sewing. Walter Hunt was a critical inventor to this time and was incredibly successful in many of his design ventures. Hunt invented more than just the safety pin, his designs include a successful flax spinner, a knife sharpener, a streetcar bell, a hard-coal-burning stove, an artificial stone, road sweeping machinery, velocipedes, ice ploughs and mail making machinery. The primary function of a safety pin is to hold garments together, help as fitting techniques, and attach pieces together. The user happens to be people like me, designers, dancers, performers, artists, doctors, really anyone with the need, or with loose fitting fast fashion clothing (me). The material used to make this is a soft metal. Production is simple, and is consistently mass produced. This product is also highly affordable and disposable. This product is a low cost to make, and a low cost to sell. So whether youre a top of the line, luxury designer, or a 9 year old ballerina just trying to fit in your tutu, you both can find and utilize the same solution.