Rooidoppen

Body intervention

Aardappel rooidoppen (roughly English for potato harvesting caps) are pointy thimbles used by poor Dutch agrarian workers during the 30s and 40s for the harvesting of potatoes.

Type: Product

These workers were poor laborers who came from across the country during harvesting season to earn a small amount of extra income by harvesting potatoes. They were dug out of the earth by hand and that could mess up your nails really bad. To protect them they made these small thimbles out of pieces of tin that were soldered together into a mole-like claw.

I found it an interesting story and was inspired by the way how we transformed our hands into a digging tool. Because there is little to no information about it, I wanted to recreate history so that you can experience it yourself and give it a new function. Maybe as a gardening tool or for your cosplay costume?

You can find and download the design here for 3d printing: Thingiverse.