If you enjoyed Office Kitten’s piece on the 10,000 year history of office supplies then here is a condensed version in infographic form! Enjoy all the major innovations and inventions office supplies have enjoyed, and endured, over each passing age in history. This entertaining and informative infographic is perfect as an educational tool for young and old people alike. You can find the complete version on our Pinterest Board.

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It’s easy to forget the distant and complex history of what would eventually become office supplies. The items are now so readily available we don’t have to think about their past, yet their collective history can be traced back ten thousand years! It all began in prehistory with the arrival of structured human life – this triggered off a journey towards the society we know today. In modern times many millions of people use the myriad of office supplies available, and we have our ancient ancestors to thank for these great inventions and innovations.

Over the passing ages crude implements gradually evolved into the items which make our lives so much easier. Human accomplishments such as circumnavigating the globe, writing great novels and symphonies, landing on the moon, and making great medical advancements have all been accomplished with pens, pencils and paper. These seemingly rudimentary items have transformed how human beings behave on Earth, and in contemporary society we would be ineffective in our daily environment without the office tools it took 10,000 years to perfect.

To celebrate this rich past Office Kitten presents to you the ancient lineage of office supplies through the ages; from relative obscurity in antiquity to mass production in the modern age. Read on for a guide on the building blocks of any working business, and a free history lesson of human endeavours and accomplishments. Once you have read this piece you can also check our infographic for a condensed version of important facts!

Prehistory

There was a time in human history when we didn’t read or write – this is known as prehistory as no records were maintained. There were no pencils about, and language was in its infancy. We should imagine well timed grunting was what composed most of polite conversation back then. Thanks to archaeology, amongst other scientific practices, we now know some of the events of this distant time and are able to trace human endeavours that shaped the world.

Early Humans

Around 11,000 years ago humans were nomadic, primarily hunting for food when not restlessly moving from area to area. There was a complete lack of any need to make pedantic auditing reports so office supplies were in short order. Despite this now legendary cave paintings and sculptures display the artistic side to human life, with crude rocks and other implements taking the place of pencils and pens. This was The Stone Age.

The Neolithic Revolution

Around 10,000 years ago (8,000 BC) humans began to refine their lives, moving away from being mere hunter gatherers. Agriculture became a part of life and with it came structured societies. Archaeological studies have revealed that this era brought about intelligent, developed living with small, expanding communities. The need for tools was prevalent, but on a basis for survival rather than for communication or cultural purposes.

The Rise of Civilization

The Chalcolithic period saw life begin to flourish as the first known writing form – Cuneiform Script – emerged around 3700 BC. Typically notes were made laboriously by using clay and blunt reeds as an early form of stylus (pencil).

This was the rapidly flourishing Ancient Egypt in action and its influence spread across the world. By the time Stonehenge began construction around 3000 BC recorded history was beginning across the world. Prehistory was fading and a fabulous new age was about to commence.

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If you’re going to work out of your own home you need to create a space that is both personal and productive. It needs to be streamlined and organized so that you can easily find any item in the office that you need. It needs to be comfortable in terms of design and ambience. And it needs to fit in with the rest of your house whether it’s in its own room or is just a corner of a multi-purpose space. In short, your home office needs to be an uncluttered extension of who you are. If you’re struggling to find a way to set up your home office to achieve these goals, you might want to get a clue from some of the coolest home office setups around.

1.    It All Fits. This home office setup features seven monitors of varying sizes, all of the necessary keyboards and mice and even a place to put the cell phone. It’s not cluttered but it’s not bare either. The décor includes a terrific Herman Miller Aeron ergonomic desk chair and a little bit of art on the wall. And the wall itself is a terrific addition; it looks exactly like white brick but it’s really white brick wallpaper that absorbs some of then noise from the computer fans.

2.    His and Hers. It is increasingly common for both the husband and wife in a home to need to work out of a home office. This design puts the work space in the middle of the room and divides the room up into a “his and hers” set-up. If one decides to get cluttered, it shouldn’t significantly impact the space of the other. They can work together in harmony. The black-and-white contrast coloring enhances the dual purpose of the space.

3.    The Computer Isn’t the Priority. Believe it or not, not everyone needs to make their computer monitor the primary focus of their work space. Although it’s important to make a place for it, some people require space to lay out their projects and look at their work. Photographers are a great example of people who need this kind of space. This large wrap-around home office set-up with strategically placed computer equipment offers that kind of open space. [Read more →]

Many of us who work in offices have a favourite desk. It might have been with us for years. It might even have a story behind it.

Here is the story behind a desk like that. It might be the most famous desk in the world; it certainly sits in one of the most famous offices in the world — the Oval Office in the White House, Washington D.C. The US President — in fact just about every President since Rutherford Hayes (in office from 1877 to 1881) — has used it somewhere in the White House.

Searching the Artic

The desk gets its name from a frigate of the Royal Navy.  H.M.S. Resolute was especially configured for arctic exploration with massive timbers, an internal heating system and a polar bear figurehead. In 1852 Resolute became part of an expedition sent to search for one of Victorian Britain’s most famous explorers, Sir John Franklin.

Franklin, it would eventually be learned, had already perished along with his crew some five years earlier of cold and starvation in the Arctic wilderness. The Resolute, in the course of the search, became icebound in the wake of a surprise cold snap in August of 1853. All attempts to break the ship free failed and the frigate was finally abandoned in May of the following year when the Spring thaws failed to free her.

That, so far as anyone knew, was the end of HMS Resolute until September of 1855 when she was discovered, adrift but still seaworthy, by the American whaler George Henry, some 1200 miles from the spot where she had been abandoned in the ice sixteen months earlier.

The dumbfounded Yankee whalers climbed aboard their newly-found trophy and sailed her in company with the George Henry, back home to New London Connecticut, arriving on Christmas Eve.

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Offices and the movies don’t always go hand-in-hand, yet on occasions the two have met head on to create some memorable cinema. Typically office lies is portrayed as strikingly dull, or crushingly bureaucratic, and films lampoon the scenario with a great sense of fun. Office Kitten takes a look at all of this with some of the best office based movie antics the world has ever seen.

1. Being John Malkovich (1999)

Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) bags a job on the seven-and-a-half floor due to his nimble auditing abilities. He soon finds that a secret passage in the office allows a “user” full access to movie star John Malkovich’s brain. If things weren’t bizarre enough the office soon becomes a hit, and access to Malkovich’s mind is seen as a spiritual experience.

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