out with the old

"The idea that our possessions reflect the passing of time is hardly a new concept." -Deyan Sudjic

I love the businesses that line most of Toronto's streets... everywhere I look is a relic of a time past, holding on by a thread, somehow managing to stay in business selling old vacuum cleaners and stoves from the 90's- warehouse liquidations are bread and butter here.

But some go even further back, stuffing their stores with decades old mass-produced housewares and obsolete technologies that they don't seem aware are actually obsolete. Still selling cheap though. A new generation is raiding their grandparents' house for this stuff or sadly buying it at Urban Outfitters. Old-school is hip, of course... someone should tell them.

Note the guy's reflection in the window... he was a bit unsure of me taking photos of his merchandise but I said I liked his sign and that seemed to satisfy him.

I have so much nostalgia and love for this type of stuff. But nostalgia only... I don't want to deck out my house in it unless it pre-dates me- for some reason then it enters the realm of good design again.
But if its got a double cassette deck or a squeaky joystick, then all of the sudden I'm playing Atari in my Rainbow Brite pyjamas or dramatically gagging as my sisters spray Aquanet in our tiny bathroom.

"Possessions that stayed with us for decades could be understood as mirroring our own experiences of time passing. Now our relationships with objects seem so much emptier. The allure of a product is created and sold on the basis of a look that does not survive physical contact... desire fades long before an object grows old... Each new generation is superseded so fast that there is never time to develop a relationship between owner and object."

Desire. Obsolescence. Nostalgia. Desire.

Note the spelling on color.

If you're a lover of things, or intrigued by things, or if you own many things, or throw out a lot of things, then I recommend The Language of Things. Deyan Sudjic gets it right in so many ways, so many times. I read him for his down to earth criticisms- he joins theory with solid street level awareness... taking it all in and objectively calling out the dualities that are everywhere, spinning out of control... and sometimes shaking his head at himself as well. 

Believe me, he'll be popping up on here rather often.