Celebrating World Art Day with Manhole Covers

Everyone is familiar with manhole covers. An intrinsic part of the patchwork of every village, town and city, we played around and on them as children and recognise the distinctive sound of someone walking or driving over them.  But how often do we actually notice them? They are a frequently-overlooked part of the fabric of our environments, but on closer inspection, they have an inherent beauty all of their own.

Perhaps here at Drainfast we notice them more than most due to the nature of our work but we can thoroughly recommend taking a look down at what is under your feet every day – you may find some unexpected surprises!

Industrial Heritage

Here in England, many of our manhole covers reflect our proud industrial heritage – cast iron beauties with the name of their founders proudly inscribed around the rim or within an intricate pattern.

In fact, far from being as dull as ditch water (pun intended), drain covers worldwide provide a fascinating insight into the social and economic heritage of every country and area.

Manhole covers began as a simple slab of stone or wood right back in Roman times, allowing access to covered trenches that carried sewage. This basic design existed right up until relatively recently – only being replaced with cast iron drain covers in the late nineteenth century. Not much has changed between then and now except perhaps some material and installation method improvements.

Turning Japanese

However, interesting as our own covers are, the country that scores most highly for sheer creativity on manhole cover design has to be Japan. They certainly have a talent for turning out colourful and surreal artwork – ever more intricate and wonderful designs appear around every corner. In honour of World Art Day on the 15^th April, we have been looking at some of the stunning examples of their cover decorations!

It seems that in the 1980s, a high-ranking minister with responsibility for the Japanese construction industry wanted to encourage taxpayers and raise awareness of costly sewage works.

He had the brainwave of allowing local boroughs to design their own manhole covers. The idea caught the public interest, sparking a series of design competitions and creating a ‘manhole craze’ which has never really died out.

All around the world, fans of this particular piece of urban furniture collect, discuss, trade, and create manhole cover designs. Who would ever have thought that this formally commonplace item could attract such a worldwide following?

There’s even a name for these people: ‘operculist’.

Don't look Up!

Back in Britain, we perhaps should not be surprised by the relative popularity of this particular hobby. It is part of our native instinct to feel that anything our ancestors created many years ago – be it a building, a monument, a painting, or even a drain cover – is something worth treasuring and learning more about.

The tour guides in our historic cities often implore visitors to “Look up!” to see the historic features that they might miss because they are above eye level. But it is when we look down, at the ground beneath our feet, we can uncover the letters of iron on the plates that hide drains, coal chutes, or hydrants.

More than a hundred years of footfall on these manhole covers has begun to erase these letters, and many of the historic pieces of metal are vanishing completely as whole streets are modernised or built over. The increasing rarity of some of the designs will no doubt stoke the interests of this group of collectors yet further.

Want to find out more? Here are some resources you can use:

• The Drainfast Pinterest page! Japanese manhole covers on Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/drainfast_uk/we-love-drains/
• Another useful Pinterest collection: https://www.pinterest.com/onetimeataday/collection-manhole-cover-art/
• “Designs Underfoot: The Art of Manhole Covers in New York City” – a book by Diana Stuart
• Berlin-based Raubdruckerin (‘Pirate Printers’) use urban design including manhole covers to create truly unique items of clothing – they simply paint the ink onto the cover and press the clothing over it!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iJ0bNWRZH0
• Finally, you can follow the hashtag #opercula on Twitter to see more fascinating designs