The things with which we surround ourselves

A lot on my mind these last couple of days. Tonight, I don’t have it in me to write about it. It will come.

But in all of the fog, I’ve also been thinking about the things with which we surround ourselves. It’s part of a much larger conversation, something I’ll file under “developing interest,” cross-referenced with “excuses for consumerism/desire.” But the things in our lives, and the things we leave behind, say a lot about who we are. What mattered to us. How we spent our time and money and energy.

I’m never going to be one of those people who decants everything into lovely glass bottles, Lord bless them. But I won’t deny that there was a pretty serious sense of gratification when I labeled (most) of my spices last month with these Martha Stewart labels. (even if it did result in a font search to be able to label those slightly more obscure spices and have the fonts stay consistent. What the Font, one of my favorite resources, couldn’t really help me out. I’m worried it might be custom. {damn you, Martha, for sucking me into this black hole!} If anyone knows, please leave a comment or email me.)

My sister made fun of me when I bought a translucent ketchup bottle for dishsoap, but I love it – it dispenses right, it fits nicely on the edge of the sink, it’s easy to refill from the huge bottle of Dawn lurking below. It’s form and function.

But sometimes I just wish the functional things would be less ugly.

That’s where Lovely Package comes in – a site devoted entirely to product packaging around the world. It’s one I subscribe to but only check out once the posts have stacked up – there’s something really calming but also weirdly energizing about scrolling through the lovely, witty, and creative takes on something as simple as packaging design. To one degree or another, we surround ourselves with things – some purely form, mostly function. But they don’t have to be ugly. They can be little moments of color and creativity, bursts of excitement on a not-so-interesting day. They can be luxurious or soothing or just pleasant to the touch. We shape the space we inhabit, in ways both big and small.

And then there are those over the top luxuries. Maybe not suited for everyday, but pretty damn fun for just the right occasion.

Anything in your life that just works the way it’s supposed to? Sometimes the best design is something you hardly think about after a while – I have the same alarm clock I’ve had forever, with dual alarms and an adjustable light, radio, CD, alarm, you can set the starting volume and, if you sleep like me, set it to escalate. You can set the time up or down and not have to go all the way around the horn to get where you want. It’s not the most beautiful, but it’s the perfect alarm for me, really. And it’s only when I’m in hotel rooms and I skip past 6:00 and my OCD self can’t settle for 6:01 that I really come to appreciate it.

But then there are the things that are just packaged right. Where form and function meet, with maybe a bit of panache. I wish my alarm was a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I hate wrangling blister-wrapped plastic packages. But I love the mixture of brushed and shiny metal on my (overpriced) Clinique lipstick. Black Honey just wouldn’t be the same in plastic.

(all photos from lovelypackage.com)