Peter and I were discussing the merits of clearing out the clutter in our lives, the conversation spurred on by a quote I'd found from the Victorian Arts & Crafts guru, William Morris. His dictum was:
Have nothing in your houses you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
This sounds to me a bit like minimalism. British television is awash with programmes purporting to educate the poor benighted population on the wonders of style and decoration. Minimalist designs are often featured and they invariably involve acres of white paint, white fabric, white tiles, white wood, white minds; the result - sterility.
Admittedly those of us who believe that global warming is a reality need to grow to love white so that we can become mobile reflectors of the sun's rays but minimalism does not mean colourless (nor does it mean black). There's no harm in a splash of red, or mauve, purple, orange, indigo, cyan, yellow, whatever takes your fancy (steer clear of anything other than mint green unless nausea is your idea of a fun condition).
(I'm going to stop there because I've no idea where that line of thought is going.)
Anyway back to W. Morris, Esquire. I can't pretend to be following his ideas at the moment. I don't think I own any particularly ugly objects but I've plenty of useless ones; blunt scissors, spanners/wrenches that fit nothing I own, keys that work in no known lock, a cravat, television remotes but not the television, floppy discs but no drive, books on how to identify trees. An infinity of defunct objects that are fit only for the skip or the charity shop where someone else can acquire them with the notion that they might prove useful.
Many of the things I mentioned may have at one time been useful (except the cravat). However all over the world (but mainly in China), someone is at this very moment manufacturing, using precious earth resources, genuine knick-knacks. These objects are of no known use and questionable beauty, objects whose sole purpose is to remind the owner that they were once in Paris, Majorca, San Francisco, Nempnett Thrubwell - on a shelf somewhere is a gilt plastic Eiffel Tower, a miniature Flamenco dancer, a mug with a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, a ………; ah, now, I’ve no idea what you might get as a souvenir from Nempnett Thrubwell. A replica cowpat, perhaps?
Pixie suggested I photograph some knick-knacks for this blog but, to be honest, I don’t want to give them any more exposure than I have to.
Instead, here is an ice cream van in a flood.
9 comments:
"Pixie suggested I photograph some knick-knacks for this blog but, to be honest, I don’t want to give them any more exposure than I have to.
Instead, here is an ice cream van in a flood."
Oh Dave. That made me laugh, I needed that. I felt like a Monty Python episode was coming to life briefly in my head for a moment.
This post was just plain funny. Thank you for that moment of laughter! :-)
Thanks, Bluesmama, I pleased I brought a spark of laughter into your day. I'm a big fan of Monyy Python, as you've probably guessed.
Thanks, Susan - it all depends on my mood when I start writing whether what comes out is serious or one of my miss-guided attempts at humour - I prefer the latter.
Verily I say unto you that an ice cream van in a flood is an object in the modern world's own knick-knack nightmare.
Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Ice cream van.
Ice cream van who?
Ice cream ven ze whole vorld eez vull of knick-knacks.
Thank you, Darius - brilliant!!
I don't know if I agree that a lack of clutter and a presence of monochromatic color schemes equals sterility.
I have been at my creative best when my house has been empty of anything that did not have a use to me, and bereft even of furniture, besides a kitchen table and a wooden rocking chair.
I think that my mind is so full of stuff that I need the empty space outside of me to spill it all out into. If that makes sense...maybe I'm odd, though.
No, Josephine, I think it makes sense. You still have your comfort zone in the table and chair. I think I prefer, at the moment, anyway, to be surrounded by warm, nurturing objects, like books, textiles, paintings, things that I can look at for inspiration.
It's not always successful!
White's OK in many situations but it doesn't seem to suit me in a living space - I've spent my working life using colour - I only use white when I want to shock.
Morris's rule stated "and believe to be beautiful" and don't we all (I hope) have different ideas of beauty? We just have to hope there aren't a terrible lot of people swooning over knickknacks from their journeys.
I was all excited about this entry and our mutual questions regarding style until I got to the part about lime green. uh, Dave? Did you read about my sunny pear sofa?
Dare I?
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