Collecting Collections

Contributor post by Lisa Congdon

I'm back this month with an up close look at some of my kitchen collectables. As I mention in my book, A Collection a Day , my favorite collection is probably my mid-century kitchenware -- most of which is Scandinavian and Japanese. I love the colors, the designs, the simplicity.

photo by Philip Maisel

I started collecting kitchenware about 10 years ago. It began with a Catherineholm piece I found at an antique mall, and it grew from there. Much of my vintage kitchenware I don't use -- it's either too fragile or too precious to me, so I display it in my kitchen instead.

photos by Jen Siska for Dwell Magazine

Recently I did an interview with Drew of Kitsch Cafe about collecting. In that interview I talk a little bit there about taking good care of your collections, which in many cases means not using them (or at least not using them for every day use) to protect them from wear and tear.

But I do use several of my kitchen collectables! In fact, you can see many vintage things in my kitchen thrown in with every day spoons, pots and bowls.

When it comes to your collections, how do you make decisions about what to use versus what to display? Tell us what you think.

........................................

Lisa Congdon is an artist, author and prolific collector of old and unusual things, including bits of nature, and surrounds herself with these things in her home and studio. In 2010 she chronicled all of her collections in her Collection A Day 2010 Project. That project is now a book, published in March 2011.

Site: www.lisacongdon.com
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lisacongdon

Collecting Collections: Arranging

Contributor post by Lisa Congdon

Arranging collections in a display can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of collecting after the hunt is over. Nothing like realizing you have just enough of the thing you've been collecting to make a really cute little display on your credenza.

I've always obsessed over arranging things, and love this book that my dear friend Lorena gave to me a couple of years ago. It's called Arranging Things: A Rhetoric of Object Placement . Design writer Leonard Koren discusses the principles that govern how we arrange things in three-dimensional compositions. The book is beautifully illustrated by Nathalie Du Pasquier .

Not so much a "how to" book as a theoretical perspective, the book is also an interesting discourse on composition for painters and illustrators.

Speaking of arranging things, I love this little shelf from Ferm Living called The Dorm . A modern take on an old fashioned knick-knack shelf!

Some people have a gift for arranging things in exquisite ways. I just love Holly Becker's armoire in her new home. Mostly, I love how she's managed to use it for storage but in a way that artfully showcases the beauty and interest of the objects in it.

Notice how Holly groups things that are alike: old books together, white porcelain together, newer books arranged by color. The visual impact is achieved by grouping these like things together, but alternating heights, colors, directionality, etc. {BTW, you can get Holly's gorgeous new decorating book here .}

What is your favorite tip for arranging things beautifully?

........................................

Lisa Congdon is an artist, author and prolific collector of old and unusual things, including bits of nature, and surrounds herself with these things in her home and studio. In 2010 she chronicled all of her collections in her Collection A Day 2010 Project. That project is now a book, published in March 2011.

Site: www.lisacongdon.com
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lisacongdon

Collecting Collections: Kontor Kontor

Contributor post by Lisa Congdon

Hi everyone!

I'm a link collector, are you? And *surprise surprise* many of my links have to do with collections and collecting.

One of the best links I've added to my collection lately is from Kontor Kontor , a design agency in Gothenburg Sweden. They are a full service agency, offering graphic design, product design and interior design. The women at the agency met at HDK School of Design and Crafts at University of Design and Crafts at University of Gothenberg. Cool, no?

As the visual imagery on their website, they've pulled together several fantastic "color collections" arranged on an imaginary grid. I love this kind of arrangement (also how I arranged my collections in my Collection a Day project.) So visually appealing and satisfying! I could look at these images all day long! Sort of reminds me of Anthony Zinonos' Found Colours . I know there are other artists who've also done gorgeous work with color collections (if you know of any, please leave their names in the comments!).

The women from Kontor Kontor have a lovely shop with some hand screened tea towels too.

I'll be back next month with something new! Stay tuned.
Lisa

........................................

Lisa Congdon is an artist, author and prolific collector of old and unusual things, including bits of nature, and surrounds herself with these things in her home and studio. In 2010 she chronicled all of her collections in her Collection A Day 2010 Project. That project is now a book, published in March 2011.

Site: www.lisacongdon.com
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lisacongdon

Collecting Collections

Contributor post by Lisa Congdon

Hi everyone!

I have taken a hiatus from contributing to Poppytalk for the last year but I'm back now with a new monthly column all about...you guessed it...COLLECTING! In this column, I'll showcase various collections (some famous, some not), interview collectors, share some of my collections and offer some resources around collecting. It's my passion, and I am excited to share with you.

Today I'm going to be a little self indulgent and talk a little bit about my book that just came out last week. It is, as many of you already know, all about my collections! In addition to full page images of the 365 collections photos in chronological order, it also includes: photos of my home and studio; an essay by Fritz Karch Collections Editor at Martha Stewart Living; and an essay by me about how I came to collect stuff, how I started my Collection a Day project and my thoughts on collecting.

As some of you may know, I started a project on January 1, 2010 in which I posted a photograph (and occasionally a drawing or painting) of one of my collections every day for an entire year. I posted those images on a blog called Collection a Day, 2010 . The blog became very popular with folks and pretty quickly I had loads of daily visitors. Sometime last spring, I got an email from Janine Vangool at UPPERCASE publishing. I've known Janine for about 5 years and have collaborated with her before on a much smaller scale at her gallery and in UPPERCASE Magazine. She asked me if I'd be interested in making a book of my project. I'd already been contacted by other publishers showing interest, but was secretly waiting for Janine to email me! If I was going to make a book from the project, I wanted more than anything for her to design it.

So at that moment we started to concept the book and began working on it shortly thereafter. Most of the ingenious design in the book (the size, layout, color choices, cover, the tin it comes in, etc) were all Janine's doing, but every step along the way she consulted me about the direction the book should take. It was a wonderful and easy collaboration! Around December 2010, things really started to kick into full gear. Our goal was to have the book printed and available in March 2011. We had to work quickly! At the end of December, I wrapped up the project, finished my essay for the book, and sent her all the photos of my home and studio that would be included. Janine then did the hard work of finishing the layout and all the other third party negotiations that come with printing 5000 copies of a book and a collectable tin.

Miraculously, in less than three months since the project was finished, we had a book! And I love it so much. Here are a few images of the inside:

You can purchase the book here along with some other Collection a Day goodies.
You can purchase a few prints of some of my collections here .
You can download free "collections" wallpaper for your desktop here .

I'll be back next month with something new! Stay tuned.
Lisa