Blow

Blow is a fan. When you want to turn it on you blow on the little windmill on the outside of it. The fan then keeps the wind-mill spinning until you want to turn it off, which you do by stopping the windmill with your finger. The fan's round body sits in a nest of cable like an egg in an egg cup so that you can direct its breeze by pointing it wherever you want it to blow, any angle is possible.

It was made by Julie Mathias and Me as part of a series of work that drew on ideas of childhood and naughtiness as a way of re-evaluating functional objects. The blowing came first - we attached a little windmill with a sensor on it to a regular desk fan and hooked it up to turn on the fan when you blew on it. Once we had that switching it off by stopping it with your finger was obvious. The little windmill really wizzes round so it's a bit daunting but it's so light that it doesn't hurt at all. The spherical shape came later.