Collection Agency: Tucker Viemeister’s Amazing Wall of Toothpaste Tubes
An epic assemblage of a common consumer product. Plus a new raffle, and more!
A few months ago I wrote a piece about spatula design. A key part of that article was an interview I did with the industrial designer Tucker Viemeister, who among other things helped create the first wave of OXO kitchen utensils.
Along the way, I learned that Viemeister has a large collection — maybe even the world’s largest — of toothpaste tubes, which he displays in the bathroom of his Manhattan apartment. Naturally, I wanted to see, so I recently arranged to pay him a visit.
If you’re into collecting (or toothpaste), walking into Veimeister’s bathroom is a quasi-religious experience. The walls are covered with row after row of toothpaste tubes from around the world, each secured by a nail and our old friend the binder clip. You really need to be there in person to fully appreciate the the collection’s scope and grandeur, but here’s a photo and a short video clip that will at least provide a sense of Viemeister’s epic assemblage:
I’m not the first to write about Viemeister’s toothpaste obsession, but I had lots of questions that weren’t addressed in other articles I’d seen. So here’s a transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity, of the conversation Viemeister and I recently had in his bathroom: