The Object That Stays
Some things get more interesting as they age. Most things just get old.
The difference isn't quality, exactly. It's not about how well something is made, though that matters. It's about whether the object has a relationship with time. Whether it accumulates meaning or just accumulates wear.
I've been thinking about this because I've been clearing out a storage unit. Fifteen years of objects. Some of them I can't remember buying. Some of them I remember exactly — where I was, what I was thinking, why I wanted them. The ones I remember are the ones that outlasted the trend they came from.
What Outlasts
The objects that outlast trends tend to have a few things in common. They're specific without being precious. They do one thing well. They have a material honesty — they look like what they're made of, they age the way their material ages, they don't pretend to be something else.
The the aesthetic eye has been exploring this from a painting perspective — the idea that certain materials have a relationship with time that others don't. It maps onto objects in a way that surprised me.
The objects that don't outlast trends are usually the ones that were designed to look like something. To look expensive, or minimal, or artisanal. The look ages. The thing underneath it doesn't have enough to survive the look going out of style.
The Trend Problem
Every trend produces objects. Most of them are designed to look right for the moment. A few of them are designed to be right, period. The second category is much smaller and much harder to identify in the moment.
The material thinking has some thoughts on material thinking that get at this. And creative community has been writing about creative community in a way that touches on collective taste — how groups develop a sense of what lasts. The the wares archive has the full archive.
The Test
The test I use now: would I want this in ten years? Not "will it still be in style." Will I still want it. The answer is usually obvious. The hard part is trusting it.