Vesna Bukovec

My father’s text about his activities

I am a mechanical engineer with 36 years of experience. I grew up after WWII, when there were ration cards. In post-war construction there was a lack of everything, from building materials to tools. Because of that you had to be quite inventive when constructing or repairing machines or renovating buildings.

In my private life I stick to two English proverbs: “I’m not rich enough to buy cheap things” and “The best is hardly good enough”. Because of that and because of having limited buying power I don’t buy much. I try to make as many useful objects as possible by myself in my home workshop. Ever since my youth I’ve had the habit of not throwing things away. I can always find some useful parts in any object that members of our family throw away. Like an electric cable with plugs, pieces of aluminum from casings, screws, and similar stuff. I keep all that in my workshop.

Even though I am constantly criticized by family because I do not throw anything away, my relation to materials has proved to be a very practical thing. When I am repairing things around the house I often use some “remains” – small parts of used devices and materials, sometimes I construct a new thing completely of used elements. The benefit is low cost and high personal satisfaction when I make something by myself.

For me form follows function and frankly I don’t give much thought to the aesthetic part of the things I make. I am open to aesthetic propositions when I make something for the whole family, but if I make a tool or something I need to work with, then I consider the practical part exclusively and I don’t care if my “unprofessional” family doesn’t like the look of it.

I don’t believe in the consumer ideology of big spending to stimulate big production. This logic helps to destroy nature and our surroundings and it contributes to constantly growing capital which is owned by a few bigger and bigger corporations. And they have only one goal: quick profits at any price, regardless of the consequences to the human race and nature.
Because of the situation of our society and contemporary trends of turbo-capitalism, my family thinks of me as very old-fashioned and rigid. But despite that or just because of that, I firmly believe that I work the right way and as nature-friendly as possible and I will continue to do so as long as I can.

Marjan

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