'Unuseless' inventions: Students try the Japanese 'art' of Chindogu

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. -- The professor who dreamed up MacMurray College's Chindogu project admits there might well be a comparison with the "Seinfeld" television shows that had Jerry and George writing a sitcom about nothing.

MacMurray was introduced to Chindogu recently as five art students under the guidance of professor Khara Koffel unveiled projects that are about nothing in the usual sense of inventions.

Chindogu (chin-DO-gu) is a Japanese word meaning "weird" or "unusual." The term was coined by Japanese comedian Kenji Kawakami, a gadget guru now known for his Chindogu inventions, which are almost completely useless. Kawakami calls them "unuseless."

Such inventions are designed to be neither useful, political, patented or for sale. Recent Chindogu inventions include such items as a double-headed toothbrush, a solar-powered flashlight and rotating spaghetti fork.

Students in Koffel's Sculpture I class recently had their inventions on display in the Bennington Lobby of the Putnam-Springer Center at MacMurray.

Jessica Ellerman, a senior art major from Riverton, was ready to explain her two displays.

"I'm a waitress, and I'm afraid I will drop things on my customers," she said. "So I have the glasses and plates attached with Velcro on a tray, with a handle on the bottom so I don't spill anything. I call it 'Never Drop Your Tray Again.'

"You may have heard that you could swallow three spiders in your sleep," she said about her second invention. "I have a cover to go over the mouth with a strap in the back.

"People sometimes look at me a little funny when I explain these, but I'm an art major, and that usually explains it."

Michelle Kays, a senior from Jacksonville, took the wraps off three "labor-saving" devices.

"My 'Go with Me Foot Lights' are lights attached to a plastic band to go around your shoes so you don't trip in the dark," she said. "I tried it last night, and it works pretty well. My 'Step and Sweep' shoes are for when you don't want to bend over and put dust in your dust pan, with a small broom on one shoe and a dust pan on the other. My 'Sponge Shoes' have a sponge on the bottom of one shoe and a towel on the other for when you are mopping the floor."

Don't expect the students to achieve any great notoriety or financial reward for their ideas.

That is forbidden in Chindogu circles.

Chindogu has a list of 10 tenets that define the philosophy of the idea.

Included are: It is fundamental to the spirit of Chindogu that inventions must be, from a practical point of view, (almost) completely useless. You are not allowed to use a Chindogu, but it must be made. Chindogu inventions are not for sale. If you accept money for one, you surrender your "purity."

Chindogu has certain standards -- it cannot be used for propaganda, and the inventions cannot be patented.

Koffel said she read about Chindogu two years ago and decided it might work in some of her classes.

"Chindogu has been going on for years in Japan, and it kind of caught on as a cult hobby," she said. "In sculpture, you are encouraged to think outside the arena, and I thought this would be good to do and present to the public."

All five students in her sculpture class are involved.

"The school is wonderful about academic freedom, and they are excited about it," she said. "Some on campus may think it is a little unorthodox, but that's good. I think everyone has one of these [inventions] in the back of their mind -- to complete some idle task, like building a better mousetrap. They are usually items you might use 1 percent of your life."