Gad Charny and Yoav Ziv's collection of clothes peg iconography first appeared on Design Boom some time back when they curated an exhibition of these simple everyday objects with Yaacov Kaufman at his studio in Jaffa, Israel. They were subsequently exhibited at Milan Design week in 2010 and now a selection of the collection is currently on display at the Science Museum in London as part of the Hidden Heroes, a touring exhibition from the Vitra Design Museum.

The clothes peg is an object so widespread and commonplace that it is rarely considered. It's also an object that crossess cultural and geographical boundaries - most of us use them and they have cheerfully survived the invention of tumble dryers. Like the other objects in the Hidden Heroes exhibition the clothes peg is a pure manifestation of function - it does its job without clamouring for attention.

Why would a design museum devote its attention to such everyday objects?

"Because these industrial products embody ideals of modernism that are once again highly relevant today: economy of material, a focus on function and longevity." say Vitra. "Because it must be the secret desire of every designer to create enduringly successful products like these. Because they continue to inspire new designs. And because the Hidden Heroes reveal a lot about the importance of design: it is often most effective and influential in the places where it goes unnoticed."

Gad and Yoav's collection includes more than 300 examples of this simple, everyday household item, celebrating it in various different permutations of form, colour and material.

Hidden Heroes - The Genius of Everyday Things is at The Science Museum, London, until 5 June 2012.

These images first appeared on Design Boom - you can read the original article here. Many thanks to Yoav Ziv and Gad Charney for allowing us to feature them.