P A S K O F F | 1

Dr. Mary Miles

Benjamin Paskoff
ENGL137H Section 021
10-8-2014
The Toaster Project

Left to his own devices he could barely make a sandwich let alone a toaster. Douglass
Adams in his book Mostly Harmless from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series.
This is the quote that inspired the undertaking that soon became known as The Toaster
Project. The toaster project was one mans mission to create a toaster from scratch and attempt to
replicate what manufacturing companies can produce in mere minutes. Thomas Thwaites, the
man responsible for The Toaster Project, presents to a small live audience at the TEDSalon in
London of 2010. However, through social media and the popularity of TED talks, he has reached
an audience of over one million people around the world. Directed toward consumers, designers,
and a society of convenience, Thwaites describes his methodology behind creating this simple,
yet impossibly complex, toaster.
I found this TED talk while researching a sociology project in which I had to create a
theoretical civilization in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event. Although I was unable to use this
information to give my theoretical civilization theoretical toasters, Thwaites gave me unique
insights on just how interconnected we are as a society. Through his well-designed speech he
creatively uses many forms of rhetoric to convey complex scientific concepts. Watching the
video, you are drawn in by the comedic speaker who uses visuals and humor to travel with him
through his thought processes in constructing each component of the toaster. Thwaites
P A S K O F F | 2

presentation is effective because he employs all three characteristics of a positive speech: ethos,
logos, and pathos (Anderson. et. al., 2015).
The Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) website has established a worldwide
reputation for presenting innovating ideas with the ultimate goal of changing attitudes, and thus,
the world. As they state on their webpage, they pride themselves with inviting only the most
interesting people on earth to speak about their passion (www.ted.com). A student of the Royal
College of Art in London, Thwaites exhibits an ethical appeal or ethos. The video clip begins
with him on stage dressed very collegiately, with blue jeans, a plaid striped shirt, and sneakers
making him relatable to the average person (see figure 1). However, Thwaites employs
numerous experts in various fields to help complete his project. Thus, by sourcing these experts
in mining and metallurgy, he reinforces the notion that he is conducting a thorough academic
investigation. Having little to no prior knowledge in these fields, Thwaites uses humor and
rhetoric to explain the different stages of his quest. Through time-lapse video clips of himself
attempting difficult processes like making plastic and smelting ore, the audience observes
Thwaites actually creating the toaster. Thus, by taking the audience on this step-by-step journey,
he successfully demonstrates a nine month resume of credibility in ten minutes.
Thomas Thwaites successfully employs rhetoric to give his story a logical flow. He starts
out describing the miracle of transformation of everyday objects from raw materials and takes us
on a visual journey to produce a toaster from scratch. He begins by describing that even the most
basic toaster is extremely complex, claiming that when he reverse engineered it he found more
than 400 parts comprised of more than 100 different materials (see figure 2). This alone
demonstrates the immensity of his undertaking and becomes an effective use of rhetoric as he
overwhelms the audience with this simple revelation. From there, Thwaites identifies four major
P A S K O F F | 3

materials (steel, plastic, copper, and mica) needed to complete the project and, using video clips,
he illustrates how he traveled through mines, interviewed credible authorities, and used the
collected materials to construct his toaster. By using very organized presentation and rhetoric
techniques, he communicates a very complex subject matter in an entertaining way, all the while
raising global concern for our materialistic society. Thus, Thwaites effectively educates his
audience on the dependency of the shared human existence.
We become emotionally tied to Thwaites in the same way you become emotionally tied
to an underdog, you want him to succeed. The audience is now more informed of the enormity
of the undertaking. Thwaites teaches us mans capacity to learn has not improved in 3,000 years
ago. The only difference between us and our early ancestors is that throughout the centuries, new
discoveries have been continually built upon earlier ones leading to the technology we have
today. Consequently, Thwaites appeals to our pathos by demonstrating our vulnerability and the
need to be connected to society. He has taken us on this journey which seemed so simple, to
rebuild a modest toaster from scratch. We laugh with him at his mistakes and the absurdity of
some of his missions. He shares his failures, including the plastic made from potatoes, which
was then eaten by snails, only to see him rebound and find a new solution. Nevertheless,
Thwaites could not produce a functioning toaster (see figure 3), reporting that because he could
not obtain rubber his homemade wires shorted out after five seconds of operation. He ends with a
photograph of his finished toaster juxtaposed next to pristine manufactured toasters (see figure
4). This serves as a brilliant graphic to prove his point that humans need humans to progress as a
civilization.
Combining ethos, logos and pathos, Thwaites delivers an effective presentation on a
valiant attempt to make a cheap household appliance from raw materials. Using humor,
P A S K O F F | 4

powerful visuals, and a chronological story line, Thwaites is a credible and relatable authoritative
figure who gives us an appreciation for how interconnected we have become as a global society.

P A S K O F F | 5

Appendix
Figure 1:

Figure 2:




ThomasThwaites.com
P A S K O F F | 6

Figure 3:


Figure 4:

ThomasThwaites.com
P A S K O F F | 7

Works Cited:
1. Ashley A. Anderson, Dominique Brossard, Peter Ladwig, Dietram A. Scheufele,
Michael A. Xenos,. "Chapter 3: Ancient Rhetorics." Rhetoric & Civic Life.
2nd ed. Pg 28, Boston, MA: Pearson, 2015. Print. Pennsylvania State
University.

2. "TED: Ideas worth Spreading." 2014. Web. http://www.ted.com/

3. Thwaites, Thomas. "The Toaster Project." TEDSalon, London. 2010. Web.
http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toaster_from_scrat
ch?language=en

4. "Thomas Thwaites." Thomas Thwaites RSS. N.p. Web. 2014.
http://www.thomasthwaites.com/