Choose to evolve
Evolution
Evolution [ɛvəˈluʃən]: gradual development.
Evolution is movement. Evolution is the future. Evolution is a choice.
Choose to evolve.
Evolution as a basic principle
The English word ‘evolution’ originally comes from the Latin evolution, which means ‘the act of unrolling, unfolding or opening’. This word in its turn originates from ēvolvere – formed from ex - and volvere – which translates as ‘the act of turning’. Here one may think of volta, or revolver.
Footsteps
Turning, rotating, pivoting – that’s what FritsJurgens is about. Every day, we choose to evolve: to move, to build a future as we see it. In the development of mankind, discovering new technologies has always been crucial. In whose footsteps does the discovering, creating and evolving human follow?
Gradual change
The French ‘évolution’ has the same origin as the English word, although it was originally used in the military. In the 17th century, the word referred to 'the swerving or movements of warriors'. For example, place-changing, front-changing and formation-changing evolution.
Since the middle of the 19th century, the word has been commonly used as 'gradual change', as opposed to revolution: ‘sudden radical change’ and gained wider awareness as the word was applied in the evolution theory of Charles Darwin.
Impact on evolution
Everything around us is subject to the comprehensive, although often excruciatingly slow, whims of the evolution theory to which Darwin owes his fame. From the cells in our body to the falling leaves in our backyard in the fall.
Over the past thousands of years, homo sapiens (the wise human), characterized by their upright posture and large brains, has quickly changed the definition of ‘evolution’ and the development of the world and life around us.
An easier life
It took millions of years before our ancestors could manufacture more complicated tools. Today, one technology follows another in rapid succession and we no longer even think of the time that it took before our ancestors, after settling in a single place, started inventing techniques that made their lives easier.
Where our ancestors worked, hunted or searched for food for days, or sometimes even weeks or months, on end, we are welcomed home by our imaginary friend Alexa who switches on our TV for us and zaps to our favorite cooking program.
Prometheus’ gift
People have always been busy improving their situation. This takes all kinds of forms, but is most clearly visible in the world of technology. Let’s go on a quick journey through time.
Let’s begin with Prometheus’ gift, fire. Control over fire was an extremely important tipping point in the development of mankind. This skill gave man the first form of energy. Thanks to fire, among other things, our ancestors were able to settle in a permanent, fertile place to live. They created a permanent source of food, and the population increased.
Focus
The campfire was replaced by a hearth. Where in earlier centuries, the campfire had become the central point for communities, the hearth, focus in Latin, took over this function and added many new ones. Lead, copper, bronze, and eventually also the working of iron heralded a new era.
Sharp contrast
Land surveying, astronomy, mathematics, time calculation, book printing, the telescope, the microscope, and gun powder – only a few centuries later the technology developed by homo sapiens was in sharp contrast with what their ancestors had at their disposal. At the end of the 18th century, the steam engine marked the beginning of the industrial revolution – the steam engine invented by Heron of Alexandria (10-70 AC) came just a little too early.
The technology
In 1722, Johann Beckmann used the word ‘technology’ for the first time.
tech·no·lo·gy: the doctrine of the operations that the raw materials undergo for a particular branch of industry; doctrine of the operations and mechanical tools.
Later followed a kite experiment in Franklin’s research on electricity and the coincidence of Fleming’s penicillin.
From war to high tech
In the years that followed, war dominated the world, as it did that of technology. The radar, computer, rocket, jet engine and sonar are all inventions driven by the needs of the world wars.
After that, technology developed into high tech: technology became smarter, in some cases even smarter than we are. The invention of the Internet in 1991 has had a radical impact on the world of homo sapiens today.
A choice
All the said developments have greatly impacted the relationships between people, not only between individuals but also between complete communities. Where evolution used to happen to us at first, we now have complete control over it. We are able to choose how we evolve.
Unchanged
Let’s go back in time again. Back to the moment when our ancestors decided to stay in the same place for a longer period of time, or sometimes even to settle for life. To the place where they stood at the cradle of technology. In that time, a crucial element was created, which has virtually remained unchanged throughout the centuries.
The door.
The pivot door, to be precise.
The first pivot door
The technology of the pivot door is simple and goes back many centuries. An example of very early pivot doors can be found in the ancient city of Persepolis, in modern Iran. Various indications of pivot doors were found in the Gate of All Nations, a grand hall which build was ordered by Achaemenid king Xerxes I, between 486 and 465 BC.
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Pivoting portal
One of the sockets that were found in the ancient city of Persepolis, modern Iran, was used for the bottom pivot of an ancient pivoting portal. These early pivot doors were hung by pivots that rotated in holes in the still and the lintel. A great example is the stone doors in Hampi, India.
Hinged panel
A pivot door is basically a hinged panel that can take any type of design and measurement. It exists of the door, a pivot system, a top pivot, a floor plate, and a ceiling plate.
Modern pivot hinges
Contrary to the ancient pivot doors, modern-day pivot doors do not rotate on an extension of the vertical axis, but on a pivot hinge system and a top pivot. The pivot hinge is mortised inside the bottom of the door, and the top pivot is mortised inside the top of the door. Both are invisible in the finished door.
These pivot hinges are placed at any desired position in the door. This determines the location of the vertical axis – the spindle – on which the door pivots.
The first FritsJurgens hinge
Although the first FritsJurgens hinges still look a bit like the current ones, they have certainly been affected by the evolution that bears the test of time. Although the principle – mortised invisibly in the door – has not changed, the realization has never stopped evolving. Where there is room for evolution, that evolution is necessary to continue to guarantee the best possible product.
FritsJurgens’ basic principles
FritsJurgens is the result of a number of basic principles that have remained unchanged over the years. An eye for detail. Craftsmanship. Quality above all. That is what makes our hinges FritsJurgens. The choice to evolve, the choice to continue developing. The passion to take the lead, and to stay in that position.
Passion for evolution
We are driven by our passion for evolution – that passion is part of our vision of the future. A vision in which architects, designers and makers can create their own evolution, thanks to making a static thing into one that moves. In which they can show our surroundings from a new perspective. So that, together, we can design the world as we envisage it and evolve together. Like the Latin volvere pivots around its axis, so does our evolution pivot at full speed.
