"Colors in Technology - Technology of Colors"
17 and 18 November 2017
On November 17 and 18, the Iron Library held the 40th Conference on the History of Technology (TGT) entitled "Colors in Technology - Technology of Colors". 60 participants from Austria, China, Czechia, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States attended this year’s TGT.
After the official opening of the Conference by Yves Serra, CEO of Georg Fischer Ltd., 15 speakers gave an impressive proof to Friedrich Steinle's (Berlin) statement that color is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the history of technology.
The thematic spectrum ranged from Regina Lee Blaszczyk's (Leeds) inspiring Keynote Speech "Visibly invisible: Color, Commerce, and Consumer Culture" to Robert Fuchs's (Cologne) presentation about the invention of color production in Ancient Egypt. Annapurna Mamidipudi (Berlin) and BuYun Chen (Berlin) gave insights into the role of color in traditional dyeing techniques in South India and on the Okinawa Islands respectively. Tracey Panek (San Francisco) gave an overview of "The Global Blue Jeans Transformation".
Sven Dupré (Utrecht/Amsterdam) gave a talk about "The Making of Glass Colors in the 17th Century" and Barbara Flückiger (Zurich) introduced the audience to the "Technology, Analysis and Restoration of Film Colors". The last presentation by Jean-José Paccaud (Geneva) familiarized the astonished listeners with current and future technologies and applications of "Laser Nanostructuring" as developed by GF Machining Solutions New Technologies.
An oustanding hightlight of the program was the demonstration out of the paintbox of pigment researcher Stefan Muntwyler. He demonstrated the process of working the raw material up to the point where the pigment is poured into a watercolor pan.
