A Story about Losing, Leaving and Buying It All Back
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06. 5.08
In August last year, designer Brian Jones packed a rental van for a move to Chicago and went to bed, planning to clip his bikes on and leave in the morning. When he woke up, everything he owned in the world other than what is in this picture was gone.
No story there; lots of people lose everything in floods and hurricanes. Lots of people run off to Wal-Mart to restock; Brian made it into an opportunity. He wrote:
"Design is used to sell. Period. Whether its the newest Nikes, or someone else's ideals. My job is to communicate their message. And since the dawn of advertising, the overwhelming majority of messages sent to the world, is to want what you don't have. Someone else wanted what they didn't have, which happened to be what I had, and no longer have."
He decided to document everything he bought; to separate needs from wants. "This is about living in a consumer culture and being aware of the things I buy. Since there is so much that I will need to rebuy, I thought it would be interesting to keep track of everything I buy. When I start buying back the things that we seem to acquire—usually unnoticed—over time, I want to think about how it will be used, where it's made, how it's made, how long it will last me and what will happen to it when I no longer need/want it."
Everything. From socks to books to shoes. I now know more about what he owns than I do about what I own. ::Buy By Brian
Read also an interview of him on Rob Walker's blog.
Interesting posting. I glanced at the Jones’ web blog about it. I am like minded with the author, but I take it one step harsher. I always though the best thing that could happen is to loose all our possessions, especially with a major fire in the house. This way there is nothing to recoup of any items. This did happen to me. But, the real awakening was my moving so often. I could not believe how much items I kept lugging along. My main motto now; “rid of two items for every one item obtained”. This is much more difficult and requires a lot of discipline (not by strength but by dedication).
Brian Jones pinpoints the “consumer culture” pretty accurately. Society is basically telling us to buy silk to wipe our butts. To think we have evolved into this???
Great timing on this post. I may be moving in September, and I'm already thinking about the hassle of moving furniture, documents/books, etc over a long distance.
I have a bed and a futon. Why do I need both? I have 8 place-settings, yet I usually eat alone (or more often, eat brown-bag meals). I have a large dresser yet most of my clothes are hung in the closet.
You get the idea. Thanks for the writing.
I also lost everything in a fire and it was one of the most freeing experiences I have ever had. Intense yes and at times incredibly emotional afterwards, but I realized it was just stuff and there was so much energy invested in it. Within a couple weeks I had decided to move to across country and it was the best decision I ever made because it gave me something no possession could, experiences. Sadly I have accumulated alot since then, also lugging it around in boxes, often never unpacking some. I just recently moved again from a one bedroom house with a detached studio, to a single room studio apt and finally decided due to space, to rid myself again of stuff I hadn't used or seen in months, sometimes years. And if I hadn't seen or used it in that time, did I really need it? No. I love living simply as it actually adds more to my life, and my bank account, and allows so much more to come in, in terms again of experiences.
We are chained down by our stuff and what we think we need. This type of situation or in the case of a fire or flood would allow someone to start with a clean slate. That idea is very liberating. Would you buy the same things? Go all green or just minimize your foot print.
I really like this story. Something similar happened to me and 5 years later I am still impartial the things I buy. However before it happened they consumed me. One of the preious bloggers wrote that if they buy one thing they try to get rid of two of something. I do something simialar, I call it the add and subtract rule. If I buy something I have to subrtract something. This makes me caluculate my need.
Good luck!!!!
Just remember in this situation that - The first days are the hardest days.....
Ditto for the fire -> no possessions.
It is quite freeing to lose everything, and then realise that possessions own you, you don't own them.
Yuppie therapy for the price of a match :)
My story here -
http://www.shanghaiguide.com/articles/display_article.php?ArticleID=6&submit=Go
Lost everything after fire and theft- was awesome.
New mantra- not holding onto crap from the past and not keeping stuff incase i need it in the future.
Otherwise cant live for today
There are a lot of things I acquire, but only 2 fall into the "would be easily willing to live without" category.
The first: all those nick-nacks and decorations you pick up as gifts, or on vacation. I should really give most of those away.
The second: clothes. I almost never buy clothes, but other people do, and if I don't get the receipt I can't return them. Not to mention all those free t-shirts given out by various programs and clubs and teams and such. As soon as I finish college and can do so without my mom looking over my shoulder telling me to hold on to things just because, I'll be donating most of these things.
But the primary things I accumulate are books, movies, and video games. The first I buy used whenever possible, and I prefer paperback to hardcover, but many of the books I read are things no library near me has. If and when I find someone I think could enjoy them, I would give them away without hesitation. But many of them are complete series and I'd like to keep them together, and they have sentimental value so I'd like them to go to people I know.
As soon as I can have digital copies of all my movies and be assured I will still be able to access them whenever I like no matter what format changes happen, I'll give away my dvd's/ Same goes for video games. Until then, I have to say I often do pull out old games and movies to watch/play again, and I'm often the guy to go to when my friends and I need a movie to watch.