Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
The Objects Speak to Us
Over the holidays, I spent a day at Colonial Williamsburg, dragging my children from one historic sight to the next. As much as I love the history and the homes, I was particularly taken by the tinsmith. The man, Steve Delisle, was passionate about his work: He wanted us to know not only what it took for a tinsmith to make a cup in 1750 (a lot), but Mr. Delisle also explained to us how he used period paintings and math and all sorts of deductive reasoning to make his reproductions accurate. Knowing that a pail was made out of a French tin by English-trained tin smiths tells us more about the period (trade with France, English measurements) and how people lived, or as he put it: The objects speak to us.
Objects do speak to us, I think we are genetically wired to attribute significance to things. Ordinary items become talismans: Your grandmother’s wooden spoon or your mother’s enamelware pot become meaningful beyond their usefulness. The problem in modern life, though, is that we have too many objects. There is a cacophony of things speaking to us, and to be honest, most of what they are saying is, “Buy me. I’m cute!” And of course, because it’s so easy and cheap, we do buy them.
But what if it was harder to obtain things? What if you had to go to several fittings at the tailor and the suit he made cost a month’s wages? You’d take care of that suit, and you might not have more than one or two. I know we can’t go back in time, (other than for a day at Colonial Williamsburg) and I certainly don’t want to give up my hot water or my computer, but if we could be happy with fewer objects made with more care, we might be able to hear what they are saying to us.