Favourite Objects - Diamond Rat


I love objets d'art.
Bibelots, knick-knacks, souvenirs....call them what you will, I fill my house with 'em.
I can trace this almost exactly back to the two most influential women in my life - my Grandma and my Great Aunt Audrey. They were both committed collectors of stuff, almost all of it with sentimental value. A trip to Aunty Audrey's house was exactly like going to a museum of popular art and design, and there were always piles of stuff you hadn't discovered before.
In direct rebellion to this, my mother was a great thrower-away. If we hadn't picked it up and used it in a couple of days my mother would toss it in the rubbish, or give it away to someone else. Our houses were zen-like in their austerity. All surfaces were bereft of ornament, and the walls were unadorned. I never really liked my mother's style, and ached for a home filled with ornament cupboards and crystal cabinets and corner what-nots. I ached for dolls dressed in the national costumes of the world and ceramic kittens and Avon perfume bottles in the shape of Geisha girls. I wanted a room to tinkle as you walked through it.
So as soon as I could, I began to establish my own collection. Some may call it kitsch, some tat, some may view it with irony. All I know is that one day they're gonna be naming a museum after me. Or at least a room in a museum.
So I bring you a survey of some of my choicest trinkets.
Exhibit one is a pink metal rat encrusted with fake jewels. It's actually a little box - you can open up the top of the rat and put things in it. I bought it at a market in Hong Kong for an incredibly inflated price, and now only wish I'd bought more. I could gaze at it for days, and stay up at nights thinking of things I could put inside it. I bought this baby to celebrate the year of the Rat. Every year I buy a piece of tawdry statuary to celebrate the Lunar New Year and its matching zodiac animal.

Comments

Anonymous said…
i love them too.. such nice reminders around the house, without overpowering the room!

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