The Pre-Handshake Handshake Device

Among other social purposes, the handshake is a means of expressing reconciliation between estranged participants. To help people get to that point, designer Dominic Wilcox made this art installation: The Pre-Handshake Handshake Device.

A traditional handshake can sometimes be just too big a step for those entrenched in their dislike of the other. No matter how important it is for two people to reconcile their differences they simply can’t get over their pride and lower themselves to the symbolism of a handshake with the other party.

I designed this product in an attempt to give those people a new, more acceptable alternative. I hope that this device will lower the bar for initiating reconciliation from the heights of the full contact hand on hand handshake to a more palatable non contact handshake. I plan to contact embassies around the world where resentment is prevalent. I would like to see all family counseling offices have one in their meeting rooms. I would encourage anyone who has fallen out with a friend, family member, work colleague, gang member or world leader to use the Pre-handshake Handshake Device and let bygones be bygones.

Link via The Presurfer | Photo: Dominic Wilcox