Yesterday, I took a short bus ride to the next small town over. It is even more of a small town than ours is. The main drag, to me seems like more of a super-established crafters fair than anything else. None the less, I enjoyed myself.
There are so many strange things to be found in antique stores, and sometimes it brings me comfort; we hear the complaint ever so often, from those who collect antiques, that things are just not made the way they used to be. That products now, are made to be used and promptly disposed of and they have no real meaning. But then I see the things that are collecting dust on these shelves and I think, well, that item seems rather useless. And yet, I see it as being beautiful and useful, simply because it is more than ten years old.Thinking that way, I have hope for the materials I surround myself with.
That's actually a concept that I've been toying around with a lot lately. Are old things really all that beautiful and quality? Or is it their age that lends them such preciousness? I read an article about the sudden need for the conservation of buildings from the seventies. The article noted that, in the past, buildings constructed in the seventies, or the dreaded "Seventies takeover" of pre-existing buildings were shunned and discounted by those that admired the architecture, of buildings built before those times. But now, these buildings are getting attention, because they've entered the realm of antiquities. But it's hard to wrap one's head around. When does something stop being merely outdated and become an antique?And I start to think: When will I go through such a transformation?
And more naggingly: How can I avoid it?
1 comment:
Antiques can be rather great sometimes, but it seems a remarkable portion of things that are considered antique are, like you said, rather useless and unflattering. I think it's humanity's desire to hold onto the past that puts such a need in us to hold on to the things around us and add unnecessary meaning to the most pointless of things. I've kept things in my closet from my childhood and I think "Well this might be useful one day" or "I can't get rid of this, it's part of my childhood!" But really i've never needed those things and when it comes down to it they were hardly a part of my childhood.
I think it's also mirrored in elder people. They're often seen as fountains of information and knowledge and they're to be respected and remembered. I think the people who cherished the antiques should be much more prized than the antiques themselves.
But I'm rambling again :)
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