Tuesday 13 September 2011

Sentimental Junk



 







Sentimental junk has no monetary or practical value yet we are all collectors.  The way we deal with it is modest considering its strong personal value.  We muddle along with our ad hoc approaches.

This project is about finding a befitting physical and emotional sense of place for sentimental junk.

The outcome is a thick walnut timber shelf for sentimental junk.  Most sentimental junk is paper - these are held vertically, closely alongside each other, held in slots sawn into the top of the shelf.  Every slot is the result of a bespoke action, as and when required to suit the arrival of a new item.  Non-paper items sit alongside their paper counterparts.  A saw to perform the ritual of sawing is slung from the shelf.

Sawing the slots into the walnut shelf is a commitment for posterity and so elevates the status of the sentimental junk.  It is nostalgic of marking trees and recording our height on door frames when we were young.

These objects are worthy of pride of place in the home.  They are displayed as a visible reminder of who we are, in the same way that we display books, with the added difference that only we know what their significance is.  In this way, sentimental junk is released from its hiding and celebrated.

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