Volvelles #0099

The collector: Kirsten Hively, architect, designer, photographer, Brooklyn, USA.

The collection: Volvelles, also known as wheel charts, info charts, wheels of knowledge, calculators, etc.

The story behind the collection...

One day, out of the blue, I had a memory pop up in my head of those star charts that were around a lot when I was a kid, the round ones that you would dial to the correct day and time to see what stars were in the sky. I can't even remember if I had one as a kid (they tend not to work for extreme latitudes like Alaska where I grew up), but I had a vague sense that this was a whole category of interesting graphic & information design. Sure enough, when I searched for things like "information," "chart," "wheel," and "dial" I'd find one or two really cool ones, but I wanted to know the name for them. Well, it turns out that there isn't really a definitive name (which is part of the fun of tracking them down), but a friend remembered that Jessica Helfand had written a book about them. I found a copy (it's called Reinventing the Wheel), and was just astounded by the variety of these little doodads. I adopted her term, volvelle (the medieval term for astronomical information wheels), as it seemed the most universal. Plus it's a cool word.

Reading the book, though, I was struck by the absolutely tantalizing nature of reproductions of volvelles. You can't spin them, you can't carefully pry them open to see their guts, and you can't turn them over. I knew I needed to hold one in my hands. I think The Punctuator was my first purchase, and it (like many of them) was quite cheap. I was hooked.

The Punctuator

Volvelles, to me, are a physical expression of curiosity. You don't get all the information at once, which would be overwhelming. Instead you have to choose a thing to learn and dial your way to the information. They also have the feeling of serendipity that I miss from paper dictionaries, where you might discover a new word you'd never heard of on the way to something else.

I also love how utterly, undeniably specific they are. Arcane, some might say. And I love that the very particular areas of knowledge revealed by each volvelle is connected to all these other particular volvelle domains by their shared form.

RMA color code indicator

The Vernon farm calculator - made of tin.

Since I spend so much time in the infinite, dimensionless world online, I find it really energizing to have this strange collection of knowledge hanging on my wall in physical form. And the designers are so clever, fitting so much information in, all of it orderly and easily dialed up. I made a very simple volvelle for a friend, and I was amazed at how difficult it was, and that wasn't even double sided or handwritten, as most in my collection are.

I started collecting them in January 2010. I have 41 right now (though I'm angling for number 42 at the moment). I'd have a lot more, but I go through periods where I don't allow myself to search for them, so I can make sure I am really appreciating all the wonderful volvelles I already have. They're so detailed, I can pour over them for hours.

Nearly all my volvelles have a small hole in the center, so I've hung them on the wall in my studio, each from a small, thin nail. A few of them have a solid pin at the center, so those are hanging from bulldog clips. The collection has outgrown its space, though — right now smaller volvelles are sitting on top of larger ones — so I'm thinking about moving it into the living room where there's a larger wall.

There are definitely still some gaps in my collection — for one thing, I still haven't found a star chart with a design that I love. I've also seen a few lovely European volvelles, but haven't tracked down any for sale, though I'm still keeping my eyes open.

My favorites are the most graphic ones: the sailor whose arms rotate to show semaphore signals, the tiny colorful resistor chart, the WWII airplane identification guide (with sillhouetts of enemy airplanes as seen from below) and the 40 Wonders of the World/40 Great Inventions of the World (covered in great drawings). Also the older ones are usually hand-written, like the Wheel-O-Life, which has incredible, tiny lettering. Peeking inside those at the insane amount of information very carefully packed inside is amazing.

The small ones are great, too — I have a double volvelle called the "Pocket SIgnal Disk," that shows morse code, the meaning of naval flags, and semaphore positions and flags — all in a sturdy little thing that could fit in a largish pocket. Amazing for the pre-iPhone era.

I love that they all have different names, like Bake-O-Meter, the Vernon Farm Calculator (a large tin wheel with two dials on one side and three on the other), The Punctuator, and many more. Some of them are really clever about taking advantage of the format, like the Army-Navy Insignia Guide, which rotates the cuff, shoulder, and arm pins & patches to show the various ranks.

So I guess I really don't have a favorite — there are too many good ones!

Links:

Kirsten's Tumblr: The Volvellery

Flickr

Further reading:

Reinventing the Wheel by Jessica Helfand

Images © Kirsten Hively and used with kind permission.