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The Top Apple: wooden spinning top

by Jane Sawyer

What is it about the 'spinning top' that enriches our lives making it a worthy object to collect? Sawyer explores her experiences of the 'top apple'; its nature and symbolism in the act of play.

“…what a marvellously insidious, subtle image of life a coiling vital principle would be!” Gaston Bachelard

All is still and quiet in the centre yet radiating movement confuses the edge with speed. Mesmerising, this centrifugal movement, like Sufi dancers know, brings on a trance-like state and is a powerful attraction. But so too is the once-shiny red colour – a perfect, delicious red. Although now a bit scruffy and faded the memory of that red is still very present. And the form! An apple, pure perfection and satisfaction rolled into one. Made from solid wood there is a strong, no-nonsense feel to it. Not varnished, no flashy finish for this one. This spinning top is more than a toy for children.

As the top is launched the breath is held in anticipation. Will it be a smooth, strong launch? Or will it be a dud? (The invention of the lathe must have significantly improved the spin of tops). It is heavy in the palm, just like a real apple, so to get a good spin takes some practice. But when it's a good one, the balance is perfect and the spin goes on and on. As it spins the desire to pick up, play with, interact with, is withheld knowing that would break the magic. In the withholding of desire there is a certain tension built up so that when the top finally wobbles (and that may take some time if it's a good spin!) a wonderful predicted release occurs as the top can now be grabbed and the pattern repeated again.…

This apple-shaped spinning top was, unknowingly at the time, the start of an on-going collection of tops from our travels. It was purchased from the Craft and Design Centre in Tokyo, Japan, in 1987 as a present for my new love who had fleetingly remarked that he liked tops. I could not have predicted the delight it was to bring. Since then, almost everywhere we go we collect spinning tops. We house them, precariously resting on each other, in a number of my wobbly ceramic bowls on shelves, coffee tables and the floor. Something seems ironically suitable in that synergy between a spinning top and a spun pot. Perhaps that was the genesis of my particular attraction to tops. To a potter who works on the wheel the attraction to and knowledge of circular energy is a given. It is a law of nature, an energy that can both defy gravity and ground us.

What is it about collecting? Is it deeply embedded in our genes as a primal need to acquire and store for the bad seasons? Is it the act of scavenging and the delight of a new find, providing a new comparison to the old, a new member to join the family? Or is it educational, intellectual or simply aesthetic? Most of our extensive collection is wooden. Why is that? The ubiquitous plastic ones are often better spinners, brighter colours, sophisticated by comparison. Some have flashing lights, sensors and built-in sound effects. But the painted colours on the wooden ones fade beautifully and collect a patina through touch and handling that the plastic ones will never match. The aging can be read as a map charting a history. The apple top is still our favourite for this reason. To us it symbolises growth over time, not envy and sin (who ever made that up?). Nevertheless, the apple as a symbol of temptation is a winning combination as a spinning top, with all that built-in desire to touch!

And so many different kinds of tops in the world! The apple top is rope powered with a stick for balance that slips over the stem of the apple and is deftly lifted off as the spin takes over. Other miniatures, such as our set of five different fruit shapes, are simply twirled by the fingers. There's a magical somersault version that seems to defy physics by flipping back onto it's own stick at a certain point in the spin. Then there are the ones that must be thrown onto the ground with such force that makes sparks fly and seems they would shatter concrete. My love has strong memories of childhood competitions on the back streets of Gibraltar with those ones, notoriously difficult to launch. Of-course, spinning tops are essentially children's toys. But they are one of the few toys, like kites and puzzles, that can sustain continued interest into adulthood. In Malaysia there is an annual top spinning (‘Gasing') festival and competition where the tops weigh up to 5.5kgs and can be as big as a bowling ball. Strictly adults-only!

Design icons Charles and Ray Eames made a meditatively quiet little film in 1969 about tops – long before we became interested in them. Called “Tops” and running for all of 7 minutes it is a deceptively simple film, so Eames, now so fashionable in a modernist design history sort of way. No voice over, no script, just the soft whooshing sound and a lilting music score underlying children and adults from various parts of the globe happily playing with their diverse, treasured tops. For each different top there is a moment when the camera seems to pause as it zooms in to fill the frame with a captivating spin. Stillness in motion. After seeing that film we understood our crazy little collection a little better. We also realised we were not alone in this quiet obsession. Visitor's fingers are often drawn to spin a few tops with one hand whilst cradling a beer in the other. After children come to play we often find tops all over the floor, let loose to explore the nooks and crannies of the room.

When asked to write about a significant object that I live with the choice was difficult. As a potter, it would have been easy to talk about my favourite pot – but then again, which one would it be? Or would I choose the little copper nutmeg grater that is so elegant and functional - but how much could I really say about it? Perhaps the power of a simple object like a spinning top lies in its multi-layered, multi-functional nature. It signifies a timelessness being both deeply imbedded in history (the oldest spinning tops discovered are made of clay dating to 3500BC and were found in Ur, Iraq) yet still being explored in contemporary ways. Archaeological findings suggest that tops were invented in many different countries simultaneously and with no connection to each other. They therefore represent cultural diversity, a global family, universal yet individual. An aesthetically satisfying object in stillness the top all but comes alive when in motion. And, like the best of all toys, it reminds us of childhood and the importance of play. It would be a cliché to say that it radiates joy but there is often an involuntary smile that appears on the face of the spinner in action. That objects have the power to enter our lives and enrich them as we engage with them, even in the simplest of ways, seems so obvious and yet it can be profoundly meaningful. For all these reasons and Gaston Bachelard's too, the apple top is my choice of a significant object to write about.

Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. Beacon, 1994 (1964)

Oliver, Valerie. History of the Spinning Top . www.spintastics.com , 2002.

Jane Sawyer is a potter and teacher based in Melbourne. She is represented by Christine Abrahams Gallery.

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