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Thomas Thwaites: How I built a toaster -- from scratch

TED · talk · Watch on YouTube

Manufacturing & industrial processesProduct & industrial design

What it is

Designer Thomas Thwaites describes his attempt to build a toaster from scratch, from mining ore and deriving plastic from oil. It is a short TED talk on how much civilization a simple object depends on.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN uses it as the standard illustration of hidden complexity and supply-chain dependencies behind everyday objects.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “overall its a fascinating look at how difficult these processes are if you build them up from scratch.”

    Building a toaster from scratch shows how hard basic processes are

    scrooched_moose, 2019-07 · Recommendation · in “Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?”

  2. “a great example of the hidden complexities of”

    Fun talk on hidden complexities of building from scratch

    pentaphobe, 2023-07 · Recommendation · in “The Knowledge: How to rebuild our world from scratch”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: toaster project, manufacturing, supply chains, design, ted talk

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