Bricks: Layered in intrigue

That’s a question posed by historian David Kitching in [Brick Index]( a photographic catalogue of British bricks. Perhaps you agree. To most, the ubiquitous 9,000-year-old technology is a sight unseen. But to some, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this ubiquitous, rectangular building material. There exists an international brick fandom composed of brick collectors, traders, and enthusiasts—let’s call them fanboys (and they are mostly male)—who regard bricks as [“part of the history of mankind.”]( This friendly, hyper-focused community—in the words of the [International Brick Collectors Association]( “the nicest people on earth”—flourishes on the internet. They have brick-themed [Facebook groups]( newsletters, [blogs]( and [Instagram profiles](. They organize meetups and trades. They share photos of massive brick collections, singularly beautiful bricks, and [funny bricks](. The older members of the brick fandom have a “dad-like” approach to engaging in their hobby—with encyclopedic flair, they thrive on facts, figures, and historical context. But a swath of (mostly younger) brick aficionados, whose appreciation is more aesthetic than intellectual, is growing. These are designers, photographers, and, sometimes, newsletter writers. A brick isn’t just a brick—it can also be a historical artifact, a piece of design inspiration, or a valuable collector’s item. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Bricks April 22, 2019 “A brick is a brick is a brick, isn’t it?” --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s a question posed by historian David Kitching in [Brick Index]( a photographic catalogue of British bricks. Perhaps you agree. To most, the ubiquitous 9,000-year-old technology is a sight unseen. But to some, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this ubiquitous, rectangular building material. There exists an international brick fandom composed of brick collectors, traders, and enthusiasts—let’s call them fanboys (and they are mostly male)—who regard bricks as [“part of the history of mankind.”]( This friendly, hyper-focused community—in the words of the [International Brick Collectors Association]( “the nicest people on earth”—flourishes on the internet. They have brick-themed [Facebook groups]( newsletters, [blogs]( and [Instagram profiles](. They organize meetups and trades. They share photos of massive brick collections, singularly beautiful bricks, and [funny bricks](. The older members of the brick fandom have a “dad-like” approach to engaging in their hobby—with encyclopedic flair, they thrive on facts, figures, and historical context. But a swath of (mostly younger) brick aficionados, whose appreciation is more aesthetic than intellectual, is growing. These are designers, photographers, and, sometimes, newsletter writers. A brick isn’t just a brick—it can also be a historical artifact, a piece of design inspiration, or a valuable collector’s item. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Giphy Quotable “Durable and ubiquitous is no way to stay appreciated.” —Christopher Borrelli, [“Brick collectors are real people too”]( By the digits [27 million:]( Bricks used in Liverpool, England’s Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse, the largest brick warehouse in the world [1 billion:]( Bricks produced annually in New York’s Hudson Valley at its peak as the brickmaking capital of the world [4400 BC:]( Date of the oldest fired bricks [20-50:]( Hours it takes to dry, fire, and cool brick [25,000:]( Bricks that can be made per hour with modern technology [5,000:]( Bricks a moulder can make by hand in a day [3-4:]( Years it takes to become a bricklayer [$50.54:]( Prevailing wage of union bricklayers in New York City in 2016 Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain Explain it like I’m 5! How do you make bricks? --------------------------------------------------------------- Bricks are basically large-scale pottery. Raw material, typically clay or shale, is mined and left in place to weather for weeks or even months. It’s then ground in a mill into small pieces, millimeters thick, so that it can be turned into a paste; the mixture is in the range of less than [10–30% water]( (pdf) depending on the process. They’re dried at a high temperature and fired at a very high temperature to create the final product. Unless the bricks are handmade, they’re smooth once formed. Different processes can be [used to texture them]( (pdf), like wire dragging (a subtle texture) or rusticating (which uses a roller to create a heavy texture). Color is produced [first by the raw materials](. A high iron content produces red bricks; carbonites create pale bricks; a low iron content results in very pale bricks. Manufacturers mix raw materials to get different colors, which can be further changed by how long and hot the bricks are fired. Go deeper with Quartz membership --------------------------------------------------------------- 👉Deep analysis of the forces reshaping the global economy, from space travel to big cannabis. 👉Exclusive interviews with the leaders creating the future of business, science, philanthropy, media, and more. 👉Access to our journalists with exclusive member-only conference calls and events. [Start free trial]( Jargon watch A brick aficionado's glossary --------------------------------------------------------------- [Frog:]( The indentation in a brick, where the maker usually puts their stamp [Facing brick:]( Meant for use in a facade; uniform in appearance and durable [Common brick:]( Less uniform and often less durable, found in interiors; once hidden away, now sought for its aesthetic [Engineering brick:]( Used in civil engineering (and when looks aren’t an issue), they’re strong and absorb little water [Fareham red:]( “Much used in London for superior buildings,” including to [fill the holes in London’s Royal Albert Hall]( [Chicago common:]( An ugly duckling now “sought after for its uneven salmon hues and lumpy imperfections” [London stock:]( Once-generic yellow 18th century bricks now “sold for as much as £15 on the black market” [Roman brick:]( A long, narrow brick famously used by [Frank Lloyd Wright in his Robie House]( [Diapering:]( Diagonal patterns created with different colors or shades of brick Q&A Designer Patrick Fry is an honorary brick fanboy --------------------------------------------------------------- There are two modes of appreciation within the brick fandom: the intellectual, and the aesthetic. Designer and [book publisher]( [Patrick Fry]( fits squarely (😏) in the latter category. Photographed [frog-up]( on seamless white backgrounds, the deliciously textured bricks of [Brick Index]( shine under a spotlight, pockmarks and all. (Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.) Quartz: What got you interested in publishing Brick Index? Fry: The first book I published was [Great British Rubbish](. Brick Index continues along that tradition of design that’s not done by designers—it’s done by engineers, tradesmen, and the like, who basically create these stamps more as an identifying mark, more as a piece of utility—things that have been created for use rather than just for their beauty. I find a charm and interest in that design work, because of its lack of serious discipline. You photographed 155 bricks for this book. How did you go about finding so many well-preserved bricks? Luckily I found an architect who lives near London who collected a huge amount of them, and he was interested in finding a more permanent home for them. We photographed all of his bricks, about 200. They’re in amazing condition. They’re obviously very robust materials, but they’ve been taken care of, and they’ve been sort of squirreled away in people’s sheds for a long time. They were never used in any buildings. Otherwise they’d be completely ruined. How did he come to own all these bricks? He had just been really interested for a long time. He had been collecting when he could find them, and you can find them only on eBay or at different salvage yards. I think he had 50 or so, but he hit a bit of jackpot when somebody was selling their entire collection. The thing with brick collection is once you end up in the hundreds, you don’t really have a place to store them all. So somebody was getting rid of them, and that was already the third hand that had these bricks. He was just one in a long line of people looking after them. What surprising things did you learn throughout this process? One of the main things is the colors. Different clays across the country lead to all of the different colors of bricks. These bricks are a bit of a study of British industrial heritage and also of our geology. With the actual designs themselves, there’s this kind of quirk that you see again and again where some of the letters are backwards, which is interesting to spot. Why is that? In order to create the stamps, you have to reverse the letters so that they’re the right way around. I guess while creating them, some of the people making those stamps hadn’t quite realized that. So you’ll see Ns and Ss the wrong way around throughout the book. What can designers learn from design that’s more utilitarian and less disciplined? I don’t know whether they’d learn anything directly as much as just kind of admire them. I guess it would be something to do with not doing everything too perfectly. I think that there’s a charm and delight in the idiosyncrasy, of relishing the failures. Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Bricks? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – Giphy Pop quiz Why did L. Frank Baum make the brick road yellow in The Wizard of Oz? It’s a complementary color to emeraldA childhood memoryIt was his favorite colorTo symbolize the gold rush Correct. Historian John Curren theorizes that it reflects a path of yellow Dutch paving stones at Peekskill Military Academy in New York State, which Baum attended for a couple years. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. The first rule is to have fun Bricking 101 --------------------------------------------------------------- Interested in collecting bricks? Here’s a handy guide to getting started: - WHERE: According to [BrickCollecting.com]( the best places to find bricks are “former brickyards, construction sites, abandoned building sites, demolition sites, dump sites, land-fill and beaches.” The [International Brick Collectors Association]( favors finding bricks at random—“beside a road, under a bridge, at a demolition site, around a flower bed, at a river’s edge or in some other unexpected area.” - WHAT: Try to find bricks with decorative frogs that contain images, words, symbols, or numbers. A misprint or accident is better than a “vanilla”—an unmarked brick. - WHEN: The [Wall Street Journal]( reports that the best season for bricking is “after the snow melts,” when it’s easiest to discover fresh samples. It’s also easier to scout for bricks after a fire. Once you have a brick, you can attend an [I.B.C.A. “brickswap,”]( held three times a year. - WHY: It’s not uncommon to reap a profit from bricking—[some antique bricks]( can go for $40 to $50 on eBay. But many collectors aren’t in it for the money. The [Brick Collector’s blog]( writes: “We get lots of inquiries as to what bricks are worth. The value of a brick is relative. A collector may be looking for a particular brick or someone may want a brick that has their name on it, just for fun. But most collectors prefer just to trade, not buy.” - WHO: If you’re interested in history, enjoy traversing abandoned construction sites or isolated riversides, and have a garage or basement big enough to accommodate this outsized hobby, then bricking might be for you. Listen to this! St. Louis, Missouri neighborhood The Ville is riddled with dollhouses—abandoned structures stripped of entire facades, allowing a cross-sectional view into once ornate homes. And what have these homes been stripped of? Bricks. Design podcast 99% Invisible covers the story of brick theft in St. Louis, from the history of brick-manufacturing, to the racist housing policies that created communities “where the bricks themselves are worth more than the homes they support.” [Hear "Dollhouses of St. Louis"]( Giphy Poll Have we convinced you to collect brick? [Click here to vote]( Into itMight grab a coupleHappy to appreciate them in place 💬let's talk! In last week’s poll about [Maslow’s pyramid]( tied for most self-actualized at 20% each were “Bill Gates” and you, Obsession reader. Elon Musk brought up the rear with just 10% of the vote. 📧Curt wrote: “Coming up with some way to address the chaos [the world saw in WWII] was really significant. Maslow provided one of the ways to view the world that answered some of the questions many folks of that [post-war] era were asking. People needed some kind of mental framework with which to help them steer a path forward [through] that dreary dark tunnel of the Cold War. The Maslow term of ‘enlightened self-determination’ provided that light.” 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20bricks&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) [🎲 Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Marcie LaCerte,]( by [Whet Moser]( and produced by [Luiz Romero.]( The correct answer to the quiz is A childhood memory. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! If you click a link to an e-commerce site and make a purchase, we may receive a small cut of the revenue, which helps support our ambitious journalism. See [here]( for more information. Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. 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