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

It takes an entire civilization to build a toaster. Designer Thomas Thwaites found out the hard way, by attempting to build one from scratch: mining ore for steel, deriving plastic from oil ... it's frankly amazing he got as far as he got. A parable of our interconnected society, for designers and consumers alike.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2011
- Runtime: 10 min
- By: TED.com
- Genres: Education, Science
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/ThomasThwaites_2010S)
- Licence or status: [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/) (as the archive states it)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/ThomasThwaites_2010S?play=1)