Guest Post: Collected Impressions

Is the nature of collecting changing these days? What does it mean to be a collector? Throughout my life, I’ve been surrounded by “collectors.” I grew up in Japan and Hong Kong where my parents’ friends collected things like snuff bottles, netsuke (Japanese hand coolers), Chinese calligraphy scrolls, and ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock) prints.

Some were sensitive, thoughtful and scholarly, building up their collections over time, painstakingly curating them. Others collected what they loved, creating eccentric, idiosyncratic collections full of charm and meaning. Still others create entire collections in a very short space of time, selling them off or consigning them to a warehouse a few years later, and moving onto a new “thing” to collect.

I am not any of those. I am not a collector.

I’ve moved a lot in my life, and even in those times when I’m settled have collected things here and there, I’ll go through purges (which I’ll sometimes later regret.) Perhaps if I had kids, I might think of creating a collection to pass along, but I don’t. So I have a few things I love: sentimental items like my father’s cameras and bowler, for example, supplemented by a few, select pieces (including a couple of lovely vases from Peggy Loudon, exhibiting in ACC’s San Francisco show this weekend) which will be forever safe from purges, but not that much more.

Of course, whether any of these will be truly safe from a pair of exuberantly rambunctious cats is another matter.

What’s always surprising to me is that many of the makers and artisans we’ve interviewed at Handful of Salt share the same perspective. When we ask them what five things define them, most say that things don’t define them. (When pushed, they’ll often mention mementos from kids, specific tools, coffee, and, our favorite: their iPhones.)

But then incorporating the work of makers and craftspeople into our lives isn’t just about conventional collections. It’s not just about walls and shelves, and putting things high enough so cats/children/dogs can’t get at them.

Collecting can be about using. What many of the makers we interview treasure the most are the things they use everyday: the mug, the set of hand thrown dishes from Jan Burtz, the kitchen made by hand, the bowls by Heath Ceramics, the letterpress thank you notes from Grain Design, the sweater made by a collective of grannies in Caithness, Scotland, the iPad holder handcrafted in LA by KillSpencer in LA, the Japanese jeans lovingly manufactured on carefully-restored 1950s sewing machines ... it goes on and on. 

It’s also about what people ingest: the locavore foods, heirloom and artisanal grains, the artisanal brews and spirits by folks like Anchor Steam, Balvenie, and St. George.

It’s tempting to believe that the “maker” and “heritage” movements are all about nostalgia, for doing it the “old way.” Sure, some of it is, but not all. Because those folks who are doing things the old fashioned way – well, we’ve found that many of them are actually cutting-edge innovators with subversive streaks a mile wide. They understand technique; they know their materials inside and out. They know how far things can be pushed, and how new materials and old processes can come up with something pretty exciting. They’re the ones keeping things fresh, viable, and vital in this age of ours.

The collectors with a capital C and the everyday collectors who buy handmade and small-scale produced when they can all have an important role of keeping the arts and skills and making alive. It’s time we celebrate them all. 
 

Regina Connell is the founder and editor in cheif of Handful of Salt, an online magazine that celebrates the world of DesignCraft. She'll also be jurying the Awards of Excellence for our 2012 San Francisco show and was chosen as a San Francisco Style Maker for her deep connection to and apprectiation of all things craft. Come by the show this weekend to visit the Handful of Salt booth in the mezzanine and check out their new print edition!