Diesel-Punk: The Technology

"I don’t think we’ve taken anything “deliberately”—but a great deal of technological progress was made during that era; almost everything that moves today owes something to Victorian engineers."

-Rob Cunningham

What ties Daisy so closely to the steam-punk aesthetic, as well as the industrial revolution, are her technological advancements. The message of environmental awareness through alternate energy makes a huge statement about current energy consumption, but is also one of the strongest ties to the industrial revolution.
In a very similar manner to the Victorian era, our modern world is currently undergoing a massive change. The 19th Century faced a revolution that mechanized the world, while the 21st Century is currently experiencing an environmental revolution. Like the Victorians, modern society is changing and evolving almost every aspect of it’s world. The Victorians made their world automatic and mechanical while the modern world is fixated with making everything environmentally friendly. The Daisy tricycle is a perfect example of this modern environmental movement.

"Awareness. Our first mandate is to educate. From there innovation and solutions can grow. Why? Because we’re all ****ed if we don’t change."
-John Tippett

Daisy works on multiple levels, as a symbol of energy awareness, a cultural keystone of our changing world, and an analogy to technological progression. The very nature of it’s technology is steam-punk by design. Although it may not look like a typical steam-punk piece of art, clad in iron or bronze, it is the modernization of old technology that gives it a steam-punk element. Similarly to how a steam-punk artist would turn his modern computer to look like a 19th Century machine, the engineers at eatART have taken a quintessential historic design and incorporated modern technology. It is this idea of change and development that connects the Daisy tricycle to not only steam-punk but also the industrial revolution of 19th Century England.