That Victorian vibe

BRUCE ROSENBAUM and his wife, Melanie, cook their food on what looks like a cast-iron Victorian stove. But the stove, like many items in the Rosenbaums' kitchen, has been gutted and repurposed. There's a modern appliance inside that antique shell, a theme that repeats itself from the fridge to their water heater.

"We created this romantic Victorian feel to it," Bruce Rosenbaum said. "But everything works."

The Massachusetts couple have steampunked their kitchen.

Steampunk is a relatively new subculture that is a mishmash of Victorian aesthetics with modern technology. The idea extends from home to fashion as well - a man wearing a top hat and goggles, perhaps, or a woman in a corset and jet pack.

This weekend, Rosenbaum and Jeff Mach of Hackensack, N.J., will present what may be the first steampunk expo, at the Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks. The expo combines two events: a home show and sale called Back Home to the Future, and a lifestyle event dubbed the Alternative Living Expo, which will include an alternative wedding fair.

You've probably seen steampunk before, you just might not know it. Think Will Smith's 1999 version of "Wild, Wild West" or Robert Downey Jr. in "Sherlock Holmes." Both movies were firmly planted in their 19th-century time periods, but each of their main characters used modern technology to triumph over evil.

Philly is no stranger to steampunk. Since last June, local steampunks have been communing in the DoubleTree of Center City at Dorian's Parlor, a semimonthly gathering. The next Dorian's Parlor, which includes vendors, bands and DJs, is scheduled for March 12. Gil Cnaan, who founded Dorian's Parlor and serves as an organizer for the steampunk expo, said that the Philadelphia community is growing. When he started Dorian's Parlor, about 85 people showed up. Now, about 200 people attend.

Steampunk originated in sci-fi and fantasy books, specifically K.W. Jeter's 1987 Infernal Devices. While the genre didn't exist yet, steampunk can be found in the work of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

"It's a mad, semifuturistic Victorian fantasy where we can play with creativity and individualism," said Mach, who has a steampunk event-production company called, appropriately, Anachronism. "We can remove things, like some of the social mores and poor personal hygiene [of the Victorian era] and keep the things we like."