So I was putting away my Tord Boontje dishes, and I was thinking, “This is so me.” I wish that every object I owned could feel so expressive of myself.
I was curious, what things do you feel this way about?
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My Fruit of the Looms?
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Really like those dishes.
The items that are most ME (besides my infinite collection of robut t-shirts) would be my old arts-n-crafts stuff – especially the pottery. A bit crude, a wee bit of polish and it’s a miracle that it survived as long as it has.
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Probably my Death (from Sandman) shirt, that I had to take off from the original shirt, which was falling apart, and put onto a new shirt. It’s this one, which I’ve never been able to find again and when it began to fall apart, I was sad, but I cut it out and put it on a new shirt and it’s still sort of falling apart, but I don’t care:
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These are beautiful. My mother is very into that period in design. She has put together a large collection of art deco glass and just sold an amazing Arts and Crafts home. Last year when we went to Paris we spent most of our time seeing things from that decade of design. We went to the Musee d’arts Decoratif and dined at Maxim’s. The food was overpriced and the staff was snooty, but the design was worth every penny.
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my Victorinox motorized display
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I looked around, I am sitting at a desk that I built that is too full of personal information right now to place upon the Innertubes. So I’m settling for my attempts at homemade fireworks.
Pictured: Paper rocket body. Perchlorate solution.
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I have no decorative sense. But I do have a few objects that I use every day that feel like an extension of my body almost.
My knife, which goes everywhere with me as an indispensable tool. My cigarette case (steel mint box) has held up for years. I’m surprised it hasn’t fallen apart yet. And my lighter. All ugly objects. All feel like a pretty good sort of “me” thing.
I would have posted my backpack as well. I’ve had that backpack since I was 10 years old, and it’s still kicking around. High quality REI thing. It’s getting pretty ratty. But it’s comfy, holds a ton of shit, and is so unique and recognizable that I’ll never mistake someone else’s for mine.
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I don’t think anything is very me any more. Is that bad? Or am I just transcending material things, or something (totally lacking in disposable income, perhaps?)
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oh, I should have posted my messenger bag! one that was actually bought with my first paycheck as a for-real bike messenger. will take a pic and post later.
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I’m sure there’s a tool you use every day that has morphed into you. My dad has a favorite mechanical drafting pencil. My mom has a watch. My brother has a gaming headset. I have my gnarly old backpack, a knife, and some tools I use to increase my cancer risk.
Bought a Rotring, broke it.
I love watches, I could happily pick out quite a few I’d pay a lot of money for if I had it (Schofield, Panerai, Bremont etc), but I get bored quickly. I own a couple of mechanical watches I like, but…eh. Wallets, keyrings etc, I research, buy, like, get bored of, buy another one. Tried rings, don’t really work for me. I guess the wedding ring I’ve been wearing for almost 5 years is probably as close as I get. Or the messenger bag I’ve had a few years longer, but I don’t feel really attached to that, nice as it is.
Maybe repeatedly moving between the UK, the west coast and the east coast and back again, and selling all my possessions has contributed somewhat to a lack of attachment to stuff?
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An ironic choice for a cigarette carrying device. 
You roll your own, or just smoke unfiltered? I experimented with cigarettes briefly and I found rolling them to be a really contemplative activity.
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This is difficult.
Harris tweed wallet. Sure, just a wallet… But it embodies my love of agriculture, the countryside, and historic designs.
My collection of two dollar bills and Eisenhower silver dollars in said wallet. All from my birth year, and gives me spiritual grounding that ‘money will always be okay’
My collection of instruments, which is too numerous. Want to talk ancient brass instruments? Ironic KISS branded guitars? Tube anything?
And, plants plants plants. It’s funny cause I suspect a lot of people would have guessed cooking implements, but I usually don’t care.
I love the Japanese blades I have, but I don’t identify with them.
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I use a crank-powered machine. You just drop a bunch of tobacco on top, fit an empty filter tube on the output nipple, and pull the crank. A steel spoon slides into the tube along with a pre-measured amount of tobacco, stuffing the cigarette. Pull the cigarette off the nipple, use a dowel I specifically measured to fit right as a tamper to push the tobacco down into the empty space by the filter. Then roll the cigarette between my fingers a little to release any compression or tension in the tobacco wad inside. Drop it into the steel case, fit another filter tube onto the nipple, rinse repeat.
I used to roll them myself as needed, but that only really is tolerated on college campuses or the old west. Everywhere else people won’t believe that you aren’t rolling a joint. Although I’m in Seattle so I usually get thumbs up, or someone asking for a hit, instead of the finger wag.
Rolling them is definitely a skill. I’ve always been terrible at it. So I use the machine instead. Less wasteful. And making your own, just tastes better. Marlboros and Camels and Newports and Pall Malls, they all are about half glue, are usually all dried out by the time they hit the store shelf, and taste like iron filings. I can add anything I want to my home made cigarettes. Winter time? I like cloves and a very light sprinkling of maple extract. Summer time? Crushed mint leaves, or sometimes a very small amount of orange or lime zest.
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I want that green vase SO. EFFING. HARD.
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I really like the dragonfly bowl. And also the blue pot with the green, orange and blue “flame” pattern. That’s a very pretty pattern. It’s got an organic feel to it. Almost like some kind of seashell that follows one of the cellular automata rules.
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The green vases are my favorites… Back before eBay was popular, I used to search for “green ‘red clay’ vase” and find some awesome pieces for a pittance.
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Oh. It’s not just glue and dryness. I sold cigarettes for a bit, and while most people who work at convenience stores never learn this, I’m a curious rabbit of an individual and I looked into a lot of the laws governing the marketing of cigarettes and the whole tobacco-industrial complex. I know, I’m a nerd. *shrugs*
What you’re complaining about is (probably) Recon, short for Reconstituted Tobacco Products/Leaf (RTP or RTL.) This can account for up to around half of a cigarette’s composition, and is the big reason between flavor profile differences and price point of all major cigarette brands. Recon is not even true to its name, because it’s not really tobacco in a conventional sense.
The process of creating recon begins with the sweeping of the machinery and areas of the factory floor (not literal floor, just work areas) for tobacco dust and leaf that is too small or of too poor quality to either go into cigarettes or chew (a big source of smokeless tobacco is tobacco leaf that is unsuitable for cigarettes due to its size). This is then emptied into a giant tank which is filled with hot water, and is allowed to steep, like tea. This liquid is then carried off into a secondary tank, and this is where they do nicotine manipulation, flavor alteration (they use things like chocolate), as well as put in other additives for smoothness and consistency. This liquid is then sprayed onto paper made from the woody parts of the tobacco plants, which is then shredded like tobacco, and added to the blend for a particular brand.
Now maybe mass produced cigarettes of certain brands are stale by the time you buy them, but there’s actually a whole lot more going on there. Some brands, like American Spirits, use the term “natural” to indicate that they do not use recon, but there is some evidence that this is a lie.
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I like all of them, but the minimalism plus arts and crafts design just tickles all my senses.
I toured Taliesin west a year or so ago and I was struck by so many things at the same time. The concepts were Sooo good. The execution was… Almost ridiculous. Execution wise, I like that Scottish dude better than the Americans and French.
ETA
Charles Renee Macintosh (spelling)
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