MANHOLE COVERS

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Street Jewels

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Manhole covers in the street, like gems in the dirt, are overlooked and unacknowledged 

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We walk past them, drive over them, cover them up in the name of Improvement, and replace them when too worn.

They are restricted to certain physical attributes (round, standard diameter, made of ductal iron, flat, must resist 40,000 pounds of pressure, and be exquisitely durable), and can only reveal one surface to the world. 

When considered, each has a very individual personality.  Like the human hand, their appearance and functional beauty are deeply affected by their history.   

Designed with practical standard contours for uniform function, their individuality emerges through time. Environment, placement, stress and the damage they sustain forces luster, patina, and new patterns—

 

Our modern Street Jewels