
A contraption artist at work

Brett Doar’s website claims he can build anything out of paperclips.
“For a long time I was building a lot of stuff out of paper clips, bottle caps and tin cans,” he said. “I really found that nourishing because those were stupid materials to use. When I failed, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh because you’re stupid,’ it was, ‘Oh, I’m trying to make this thing out of paper clips.”
What turned Doar’s ability to tinker into a business was a phone call from a pop band, OK Go, about five years ago. Doar helped build a machine featured in the song, “This Too Shall Pass.”
Here’s a look at some of the things Doar’s been working on in his Los Angeles studio.
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