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Overview
The call to ‘put the jug on,’ common in kiwi kitchens from the 1940s, was for many decades a source of puzzlement for overseas visitors. It stemmed from the use of upright metal jugs - like this 1970s Zip model - to boil water. In Britain and America it was more common to use an electrified kettle, and in Australia electrified ceramic jugs were used. Quite why upright metal jugs became the norm in New Zealand is unknown, but they did offer a number of advantages. Ceramic electric jugs could break, exposing the user to live electricity, and kettles were more difficult to pour from than upright jugs. The wide bottom on the kettle, designed for use on large external hobs such as those on a coal range, also required more water to cover the internal element than the slim jug shape, meaning they were not as energy efficient. Whatever the reason, this jug materialises a history of design innovation in New Zealand, reflecting and responding to broader changes in domestic appliances.
References
- Smythe, Michael. 2011. New Zealand by Design: A History of New Zealand Product Design. Auckland: Godwit.
- Smythe, Michael. 2014. 'Industrial design - Protectionism, 1938 to 1988.' Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. https://teara.govt.nz/en/industrial-design/page-2