The paper clip may be the world champion of unintended use: it can be used to repair glasses, as a key ring, to secure a door knob or to remove a sim card from an iPhone. Or take the match: wrap some cotton-wool around it and you can use it to clean your ears; slice it in half and it is a toothpick; they also come in handy as chips in a card game.
Dutch science journalist Rik Kuiper first discovered the unintended use of objects when he took to using his oven as a stopwatch. Whenever he went for a run he would check the timer on the oven, and again when he returned. He began to keep an open eye for other creative uses of ordinary objects.
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Some are familiar to everybody: the discarded bathtub converted to a drinking through for cattle. Other are less common: hanging your laundry on a volleyball net, for instance, or using fabric softener to clean the blood vessels in bodies donated to science.
"Starting this museum has changed the way I look at the world," said Kuiper. "For instance, I'll see someone on a bike using the baby seat to put their groceries in, and I'll immediately take a snapshot."
Since last summer Kuiper has been making almost daily additions to his online museum. He also welcomes contributions from others. The main criterion is that the object's conversion has to reversible. A lighter being used as a can opener can still be used for its original purpose, but a design coat made from old postal bags cannot.
Kuiper named one more object that lends itself perfectly for unintended use: the book. You can use it to raise a computer monitor, to hold a window open or to straighten a wobbly bed.
Kuiper's museum is at www.unintendeduse@blogspot.com (in English). Contributions can be mailed to unintendeduse@gmail.com.
