What are we looking for?
What are we looking for? I am infinitely curious about what collecting reveals about the humans we are, what makes us feel deeply the way nothing else can. For this post, I discuss some broad categories of experience that lead us to collect writing instruments.
The Gathering and the Menagerie
Over the years, I have gathered quite a few animal figurines; and just as my fountain pens are the Gathering, the animal figurines are the Menagerie.
Pen frustration, pen magic
Our fountain pens and other stationery items are not just tools. They are artifacts, talismans against an overwhelming and cruel world. Pens can represent self-care and purpose, pens can bring delight and wonder. Pens are magic. That magic can come as a freebie gift, or in shape of a cheap, incredible, damaged antique-store pen.
Stationery Storytelling
What especially frustrated me about #montblancgate is that the ink did not have the same story. … What IS the ink about? Can the same ink mean something else three different times? I don’t think so.
Collecting as a contemplative practice
There is that feeling of joy that moves us beyond acquisition, towards coexisting with rare and curious objects. It is a contemplative practice that encourages us to slow down, to look deeper, to pay attention.