Our culture has an obsession with the young & beautiful. The irony is that people who celebrate their youth, are losing it day by day. However, those who celebrate their age, are getting better every day. No one is forever young—we all slowly get old. We can deny this and celebrate the glory of our past, or we can devour the experiences of the now—and look forward to the wisdom we’ll eventually have the perspective to enjoy.
Objects, like people, are fetishized when they’re new. New objects are shiny, flawless, alluring. Their perfection draws us in, but their beauty is fleeting. They get dropped, scratched, scuffed, worn. Over time they either get worn-in or worn-out, depending on how they were designed. When objects are designed to age gracefully, they gain character with age. Their patterns of wear expose their history of use. They become familiar. They feel like they belong. We strive to preserve them instead of replace them the moment they show wear.
Wear is inevitable. Wear is real. Wear is authentic. Wear is beautiful.
Based on these thoughts I’ll be collecting examples of age & wear in this blog, as I try to take notes on objects that age gracefully and/or the beauty of wear. Posts will be tagged “authenticobjects”.
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particularly bad at aging...a mantra for every responsible designer. If we project it...
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