A history of waiting to be connected
Communication once depended on objects with distinct sounds, cords, buttons and rituals. The telephone occupied a fixed place, the pager delivered urgency in miniature, the fax made paper travel and the mobile began to untether conversation from the room.
Robert Harper’s inventory records 130 unique shots across 305 total frames of telephones, mobile phones, pagers and fax machines.
Robert Harper’s view of technological change
The training behind telephones, mobiles, pagers and fax machines included two years at Condé Nast, where Harper directly assisted David Bailey, Helmut Newton and Lester Bookbinder after studying photography in London. Born in Scotland and raised between Glasgow and Islay, he had received a camera at seven and sold a concert photograph of The Who at fourteen.
The apprenticeship taught him how product design could be made legible and desirable. Harper later founded his own studio and built an approximately thirty five year career spanning major changes in communications technology.
The telephones, mobiles, pagers and fax machines collection connects Harper’s studio practice with his wider editorial career. He worked regularly for Elle and The Telegraph Magazine for more than fifteen years. Other editorial credits included Vogue, Tatler, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, The Face, Wallpaper and Harpers & Queen. Across his broader career, confirmed clients included De Beers, Boots, Heinz, Diageo, Harrods, Selfridges, the BBC, CBS Records and Montblanc.
His career crossed the analogue and digital eras, giving this object archive genuine historical breadth.
Communication before convergence
Today one device performs many of these functions. The archive records a time when voice, text, paper transmission and alerts required different machines.
Archive.London will identify manufacturers and models from labels and records. Historical devices should be presented as design and social history, not as functional current technology.
Archive provenance
- Original category: Telephones
- Unique shots: 130
- Total frames: 305
- Recorded subjects: telephones, mobiles, pagers and fax machines
- Photographer: Robert Harper