The meaning and history behind the humble tea towel. The dishwasher has robbed the good old kitchen towel of some of its practical significance. Nevertheless, it remains present in many households, hand-woven or industrially produced, lint-free or absorbent, dirty or clean, inherited or replaceable. In some kitchens, special attention is also required, as there is one for the hands and one for the dishes. For a long time, specially made kitchen towels were a luxury and reserved for the upper classes. Industrial mass production has changed this, and today two developments can be observed: while kitchen towels are displayed as design objects in museum stores and craft stores, they are also standardised cheap goods. In The Tea Towel: Perspectives on an Everyday Item, 13 authors, artists, and designers enter into a dialogue with the object and examine it from a literary, journalistic, artistic, technical, and socio-political perspective. The contributions of very different tones complement each other and create new references. In text and images, the book encourages a rediscovery of the everyday kitchen towel as a sensual object with which many socially relevant topics are associated.
