cool and funky fashion badges
from funkybadges.com
funkybadges.com produce
exclusive button badges for everyone. all our products are top quality
and produced in the uk. funky badges from bristol uk. graffiti
styles, shapes, exclusive designs, skull and crossbones, origami patterns
and more. all available to buy online. some of our badges use details
from graffiti taken all over the world. more of our pin badges feature
exclusive designs only available from the funky badges website, including
mushrooms, animals, faces, skull and crossbones and shapes. other button badges utilise
origami paper from japan to produce lovely sets that you can coordinate
with your clothing and accessories. all our badges so far come 25mm in
diameter. we have sets of three and four badges that you can select from
- come and take a look!
here follows a history
of badges for your information...
Badges are unspoken
messages. They express identity, indicate membership, declare beliefs
or make a fashion statement. They can be subtle or direct, serious or
humorous. They provoke strong reactions: approval, respect, fear or hostility.
Badges were first
mass-produced in Rome during the twelfth century AD. They depicted St
Peter and St Paul and were purchased by pilgrims to show their devotion
and as proof of their pilgrimage. Members of guilds (associations of merchants
or craftsmen) then started wearing badges to indicate their professional
status. Cheap and quick badge-making technology later captured the imagination
of campaigners: in 1807 William Wilberforce ordered 50,000 anti-slavery
medals.
One Inch Button Badges
were first produced in the USA towards the end of the Nineteenth Century
as a low cost alternative to the medallions, pendants and "badges"
of the day that were expensive to make.
The invention of celluloid in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt gave the world
its first semi-synthetic plastic and it was crucial in the development
of a whole new range of products including button badges.
Thin sheets of celluloid could be used to cover paper and give the effect
of the traditional enamel badge without the cost or labour skills needed
to work with enamel. It also meant that less metal could be used in producing
badges and there was no longer any need for soldering or screwing.
All that was needed
was a printed image and a thin sheet of celluloid to cover it (both cut
the size, usually circular and one inch in diameter, with the celluloid
slightly overlapping the paper so that it would hold it in place). A pressed
metal shell was produced and a simple machine used to press the paper,
celluloid and shell together. A metal ring was then attached to the back
of the badge to hold the badge together, again by the use of a simple
press. Finally a pin was clipped into the back of the badge so that it
could be fixed to an item of clothing.
1 Inch button badges
were and still are called buttons or pins, particularly in the USA, but
in the UK they are best known as button badges - for no other reason than
they are more often than not the size of a button.
Plastic badges have
been made in recent years, but the traditional metal button badges are
still made in the same way and to the same high standard as they were
over 100 years ago. Certainly the components used haven't changed for
decades, with the only real difference between the early button badges
and the ones made today being the use of plastic acetates instead of celluloid
ones and a D pin instead of an open pin.
Some of the first
buttons to appear in the UK were produced to celebrate the diamond jubilee
of Queen Victoria in 1897. The badges were cheap to buy and made popular
souvenirs of what was a huge occasion in Britain at the time.
The New Jersey company
of Whitehead & Hoag were one of the biggest manufacturers of one inch
circular button badges during the first half of the twentieth century
and they were responsible for the production of the Boer War badges that
arrived in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century. With messages
like "Only One Order - Forward!" and "England Expects Every
Man To Do His Duty", they proved very popular in a country gripped
by the wave of patriotism that accompanied the war.
Today's love of button badges among the young though dates back to the
1960s and early Seventies when they were used by students, hippies and
musicians as a symbol of protest. John Lennon for one loved them and from
then onwards the one inch button badge has always been seen as a cool
thing to wear
The London Emblem
Company started selling badge-making machines in the 1970s, giving greater
freedom of expression to individuals and small groups. It was the arrival
of the Sex Pistols and punk in 1976 though that was to make the button
badge an essential fashion statement. For the next decade, people all
over the world displayed their allegiance to a band, music, youth cult
or cause by wearing one or more button badges. Despite lulls in their
popularity since, they remain a firm favourite today and are enjoying
something of a revival in fortunes of late. Badges are as popular as ever
in the twenty-first century: at Christmas 2003 badge-making kits were
widely reported as Britain's bestselling children's toy.
there's more info
here
and here
funkybadges.com
or try our sister
site: graffitibadges.com
further details:
funky badges
51 washington avenue
bristol, bs5 6bt, uk
tel: +44 (0)845 644 2814
we appreciate your
feedback - all suggestions gratefully received...
email our info department at funkybadges.com
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