Our Objects & The Stories They Tell
For centuries women were consigned to the home, but now she claims this space as her own. Her independence is articulated through the objects she chooses and the rituals she practices. Today, we see the space that once oppressed her transformed into a powerful expression of the woman she is.
While home has often be considered a feminine space, too few opportunities have been given to women to tell their stories about the place they inhabit and the objects they value.
In celebration of International Women’s Day this year, we wanted to hear the stories told by the wonderful women in our midst by asking them a simple question:
If the objects in your home could speak, which would have the greatest story to tell?
Discover their answers below:
"If the objects in your home could speak, which would have the greatest story to tell?"
I joke and I say this is my idea of online dating – finding delightfully obscure things in auctions online, falling in love with them, and then trying to figure out how to get them home to me. Although this chest is new to me, it’s very old and I marvel over the life it lived before meeting me. It’s a late 18th century chest from northern Italy carved in walnut with foliage scrolls along the sides and I imagine it has seen greatly decorated rooms in Turin or met wonderfully eccentric artists in Milan. I imagine it with a silver tray on top and beautiful champagne coupes being filled on it. Or maybe I just need a night out?
The dining table. It would share the stories told over meals from family, friends and gatherings.
Photo: @cotaparedesacademia
My Moka machine, (a small Italian Aluminum coffee machine) It’s probably the most intimate object I own as it has seen me wake up everyday, has supported me through difficult conversations, fun anecdotes and has helped me welcome people into my home. I truly believe this Moka knows more than the walls in my home.
Photo: Eric Barbeau
I have a very beautiful floor lamp, which was designed by my eclectic mother. The lamp has these beautiful brass recurrent oval shapes that also appear in my mother’s paintings. I had no idea where the inspiration came from. One morning while we were in her kitchen, which has large windows that allow light to pour in, she points out these oval shadows that filter through blinds and I immediately understood her inspiration. It’s just amazing how sometimes the most trivial or anonymous detail can become an inspiration. Inspiration is everywhere, it’s just waiting for someone to notice it.
My desk is an old rickety carved green man bureau. I found it on an archaic antiques site when I was researching my dissertation on Demons back at the Royal College of Art. I became obsessed with it and my family clubbed together to get it for me when I finished my masters. The handles are made out of their monster like faces and the decorative carving on the lid looks so much like my drawing style. Inside there are little apothecaries like drawers, on one side I keep my inks and on the other I keep sentimental trinkets, cards and letters, to bring me luck as I work. It’s actually incredibly unsuitable for delicate ink drawing as it’s so wobbly but what it doesn’t provide in practicality it makes up for in soul.
