Commodity Fetishism

You can't have everything; where would you put it? 

--Steven Wright 

Okay, I know I shouldn't worship objects, but I have to admit that I do. Not many, but a few.  Don't get me wrong, I buy things--mostly flea market objets--and have been known to cheerily rescue a chair or a lamp from someone's sidewalk trash.  I love having beautiful things, but I rarely worship them.  In fact, I regularly purge my stuff in order to make way for new goodies.  Basically, when it comes to material stuff, I am fickle and unfaithful.  

I do, however, worship a few items: the letter holder my father made; Todd's Babci's rolling pin; the small, achingly beautiful landscape by my friend Nancy; the wooden bowl where I store garlic; and a few other, mostly small things.  Included on this list would have to be the little change purse, pictured above, that I bought a couple of years ago at Camden Lock market in London.  The purse was designed and made by Sophia Afxentiou, and back when I purchased it, she was still making all her own wares and selling them at Camden Lock and the Greenwich craft market.  I think she was fresh out of design school at the time, and I remember talking with her and thinking, she is going to do really well.  

And she has.  Hooray!  She and her partner, Matt Savage, have moved to a space of their own at Trinity Buoy Wharf so they can concentrate more on design, while a family-owned London company is making most of their inventory.  This cheerful, unassuming little bag I bought for a few pounds is so wonderful.  It is made from laminated fabric, the only kind of material they use at Afxentiou, and I stuff everything in it, from change, of course, to receipts, bobby pins, and fabric swatches.  It's indestructible.  I wish I'd bought one in every print.  At the time I snapped up this one, she was also selling huge, brightly colored buttons that looked good enough to eat.  I bought some for a good friend plus a few bags for other friends, but now I need some of those buttons!  She doesn't feature them on her website, so I'm hoping that she carries them at the shop.   

Todd and I are going to be back in London for a little while this summer, and a visit to Afxentiou is high on my list of things to do.  Who knows what triggers one's lust for or attachments to a particular object?  For me, with this little purse, I'm guessing it has everything to do with color and shine.  I told you I was a magpie.  

A couple of pretty things from Afxentiou: