Shelves lined with books from 1998, a blue China trinket box found in a Lincolnshire charity shop for fifty pence, a turquoise and opal cabochon ring – a gift from a very kind French creator who is now residing in Ireland. My bedroom is a smorgasbord of well… varying shaped pieces of me I suppose. A warm toned oasis with shades of whites, creams, and yellows covering the walls and furniture, contrasting against the lush thick greenness of my budding plant collection. Various bits and bobs acquired over the years which make it an interesting reflection of me, that which I hold dear and the things that make my brain tick, my heart skip a beat and my soul say ‘ooooh!’.
[I am a collector. I am a collector of objects. I am a collector of things. I am a collector of memories]…
IKEA has launched a new collection called SAMMANHANG which is centered around the idea of putting your most prized possessions on display, celebrating one’s passions and belongings in the most tangible way. As I unpacked my SAMMANHANG glass domes, I already knew what I wanted to put inside them for safekeeping and display. Two weeks ago I went to Brighton with my friends, we waded into the sparkling cold water and yelped with both excitement at the waves crashing in mightily and the sheer iciness of the water. We skipped rocks excitedly, throwing our worries and cares into the sea with a resounding plop! I ran my fingers over each pebble, feeling for a familiar type of smoothness, looking at them for any peculiarities. I found four perfectly imperfect stones. I held them, thought good thoughts, and then put them into my bag as a reminder of that weekend. The rocks sit proudly in their glass home, with my favourite smooth grey almost Carrara marble-ish Henry Moore looking one perched at the top, a daily reminder of skipping stones one cold August morning in the south of England.
On my dressing table now sits a wide glass structure which houses everything from my daily moisturiser, to odd pieces of kitschy jewellery, all the way to my graduation shoes. The shoes that carried me across the stage to collect my postgraduate degree, the shoes that walked me over to my professors to give them my utmost thanks, the shoes that took me to the pen factory to have one too many drinks and a slurred joyous dance with my fellow graduates, the shoes that, upon my waking the next morning had given me painful blisters. Totally worth it though. They are beautiful and the part they played on one of the most important days of my life is the reason they sit inside the glass casing, also I hope it’ll encourage me to wear them more (without toppling over).
As I write this, I look at my mish-mash collection of things and realise I most definitely have more ‘things’ than the average person. Minimalism, Maximalism, ‘Me-me-me-lism’ I suppose is my calling. There are things that once held memories which are now nothing more than just that I suppose. My old Practika nova sits atop my black SAMMANHANG stand, a brushstroke of intense black against the whites and creams of my safe space. Fond memories of carrying the heavy cold metal camera around in summer, shooting blades of overgrown barley in the park near my house, catching a wry smile and the cheeky wink of my friends, capturing the first rays of the morning peeking through my mesh curtains. I’m not sure old practika is still working at the moment, but for now, until I take her to be fixed, she sits proudly atop the stand a reminder to keep on documenting.
Looking through my boxes of bits and bobs from around the world (quite literally), bringing out each beautiful piece, tasting each memory attached to them before placing each one proudly in their new display homes felt incredible. In the pair of earrings I purchased from my sister when she opened her online store, I felt the surge of excitement and proudness I felt back then again. In the leather elephant embossed box from Bangladesh that my friend Prova gifted to me once she returned from her travels home, I could feel the warm fragrant air of Dhaka against my skin. In the 1893 book I found for fifty pence in an anarchist bookstore, I am transported into the words from one lover to another. Little reminders to continue to collect, to store to display, to remember.
Products featured: Box with lid | Display box | Display stand | Glass box with lid | Circular glass box with lid | Glass dome | Glass dome with cork base all c/o IKEA
[Photography by myself and Yossy Akinsanya]
This post was sponsored by IKEA. All words & Photography is by yours truly.
xo
