the story of xerox, originally uploaded by L-plate big cheese.

The first bit of mailart I ever received arrived yesterday from Douglas Galloway. His email address was printed on the back of the card, as if it had been done by photocopier which made me think of writing about the beginnings of this rather cunning device which is a pretty standard piece of furniture for most offices and many homes.

When the concept of Xerox was first invented by a chap called Chester Carlson in 1938, it took him five whole years to convince someone to put their trust and money behind him in order to even develop the first commercial copier machines. No one would believe the poor guy that there was a market for this sort of thing until a company called Haloid bought a licence to the whole idea and by 1961 was listed in the NY stock exchange. That's pretty serious stuff, and the company was worth $37 million at the time.

So next time someone tells you your idea is rubbish, and this applies to everyone there, sit back... reflect... because you never know.

Here's Douglas: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GALLERY385