Just a very nice pastel coloured ceramic cup
(Photo credits: @diana_wanderer on Instagram)
I was hunting for one, a well-made one. You know, one that speaks to me. Pastel soothes me and the coarse patterns on a ceramic cup remind me of the roughness of life. Things speak to me; some of them speak of dedication, attention-to-detail, others speak of mastership and love. Sometimes you see things that look sloppy. I pick up a bottle and I say, “Gosh doesn’t this thing look miserable and poor, like it has no friends?” People look at me strange.
I have a favourite thing that I do. Whenever I go into a cafe or restaurant, my pet habit is to look up at the air-conditioner. Frequently, it’s dirty. But there are those few rare ones who clean it. The vent is clean. The walls are clean. There is no mould blowing out. Straight away I see the pride in this cafe or that restaurant. Their air-conditioner speaks to me.
The little things tell so much about a person, an organisation, a business or even a product.
If you know me, you will know that it really irks me to use something that is poorly made. When a product isn’t well thought out, the end-user feels frustration. Most of the time, what we don’t realise, is that we are paying for someone’s attention-to-detail, the dedication they put into making sure that the product truly serves its purpose for the user. Most people don’t see that. They only see the practical purpose. And that is what people’s lives have become, a chase after mere practicalities. Cheaper, they say.
I feel really good using a well-made product. And no matter how worn out it becomes, I continue using it, like it is a cherished item. That’s how we know if products are well-made, people continue using them. If I was a product designer, I would want to see my products used and worn in people’s loving hands!
These days people are buying and throwing away things on a whim. Once it is past its usefulness, we throw it away. As the world moves into consumerism and it has become ever more affordable to mass produce as well as to purchase goods, we become a sad pawn in the scarcity concept of economics. We only value that which is scarce. Such is the human nature.
Perhaps the relationship we have with our products is a direct reflection of how we live our lives. Is that what we do to our human relationships with people too? We meet someone on the street and pass them over if they seem to be of little value to us. Have you met someone on the street once and wanted to spend time getting to know what this person is truly like? So many horror dating stories on Tinder I have heard, forget about the stories, even the concept is appalling. What happened to good old dating and getting to know each other honestly in a nice cafe with fragrant coffee? This is what it has become in our modern relationships; a swipe on a whim.
I recall this quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that my friend, Yv, shared with me, “It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important. People have forgotten this truth, but you mustn’t forget it.”
And that is why your precious well-love stuff toy from your childhood cannot be replaced. That is why, the bonds formed with people cannot be replaced. And that is also why, your Life in this very moment, is the way it is, because you have made it so.
And right now, mine is like a very nice pastel coloured ceramic cup, rough and uneven but well-made.
It is not perfect but I am happy.