Collections
When our toddler began collecting things from outside I thought it was cute, but also slightly annoying. Our house was becoming cluttered with rocks and sticks. Each one was so precious to him, I wouldn’t dare throw them out for fear of tears… and breaking his heart. I decided if we have to keep them then they will have to be organized. All rocks go here, all sticks go there.
But I began to appreciate the beauty in these things that I would normally have overlooked and so I started displaying them. Our son was so flattered that his collection was becoming a part of the design of our home.
He is seven now and over the years he has graduated to even more interesting objects. He picked up a huge rusty nail, possibly a railway tie, in Tuscany, a piece of old folded green glass in Provence, some kind of water meter from a pile of rubble in Berlin, and some driftwood from Lake Ontario. All of these objects are displayed in various rooms of our house and act as souvenirs from all our various adventures. Kids have a natural inclination towards picking up interesting objects, which itself is what being a designer is all about yet not everything he brings home is worthy of display. The cicada carcasses and snail shells never made it into our design.
