Ever since the first caveman took the time to notice that his club looked a bit like a woolly mammoth’s willy, mankind has been engaged in an ongoing effort to find a balance between form and function. All too often, of course, that balance is thrown horribly out of whack: the whimsical bottle opener that won’t open bottles, the drably utilitarian microwave. There are those, though, for whom the form/function dichotomy is a false one.

"Function itself," says Tim Corcoran, "is beauty." And for Corcoran, this is not a matter of idle speculation. The Cambridge resident has a burning passion for the well-made cheese grater, potato peeler, and garden rake. Indeed, last year he and his wife, Susan, opened the Museum of Useful Things (MUT) as a monument to simple, practical design — or, as Corcoran puts it, as a "rebellion against embellishment."

Though the MUT is actually more of a store than a museum, browsing is encouraged — which is a good thing, because it is a wonderful place in which to root around. The store is filled with a penny-candy clutter of household items: bottle stops and doorstops, dish racks and dustpans, funnels and lunch boxes, kettles and staplers, fly swatters and feed scoops. The only benchmark for the MUT’s inventory is this: an item has to work, and it has to work well. From this, says Corcoran, follows true elegance.

Corcoran would like nothing better than to have us share his enthusiasm for the everyday. If we would only take the time to look at the objects that fill our lives, he believes, then we, too, would become smitten. "These things are so ubiquitous," he says, opening up a box of wooden clothespins. "They’re so familiar that we don’t even know they’re there."

The philosopher Heidegger said that we never really grasp the essence of a hammer until it breaks. By the same measure, we never really notice the essential artistry behind a clothespin — that paragon of domestic design — until someone like Tim Corcoran points it out to us.

After visiting the MUT, I went back to my apartment and took a good look at the things I usually take for granted. The can opener. The watering can. The garlic crusher. The potato masher. The spatula. The saucepan. The screw. Then, when I was done looking, I opened up a can of beans and made my supper.

The Museum of Useful Things, 370 Broadway, Cambridge, (617) 576-3322; www.theMUT.com. Open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Issue Date: August 9 - 16, 2001