When I was about ten years old, like several of my friends, I had a stamp collection. It proved to be a transient interest, and I never did progress to being a fully-fledged philatelist. Dusty stamps were soon replaced by the collecting of numbers of (equally dusty) 1970s diesel railway locomotives. Even though I didn’t realise it at the time, I witnessed the protracted swansong of traditional steam-era railway infrastructure in the U.K. before it was massively transformed into the modern system we have today.

In their time, locomotive numbers were replaced by LPs, then CDs. The latter collection still exists; I haven’t gone the digital route, in part because my obscure tastes don’t always make it to the big digital download stations, and partly because I still like to have a tangible manifestation of my listening.

All that said, I have never really considered myself an avid collector of anything – if nothing else, I am not a great fan of massive accumulations of stuff, especially non-productive stuff. But somewhere in the mix, it also needs to be acknowledged that the urge to collect does seem to run quite deep in the human psyche. Maybe it is nothing more than a primitive urge to hoard the provisions needed for survival…?

But I feel more at home with the word curation – which, although it has overtones of the rarified atmosphere of fine art connoisseurs, recently seems to have gained wider currency. Perhaps there is something more intentional about curating, rather than simply accumulating that which happens to become available. Maybe the word also implies a sense of restraint, as in knowing when to stop – whereas the only thing to do to remain a collector is to carry on collecting ad infinitum…. Perhaps there is also an overtone of caring for one’s items, which again seems a little more productive than just archiving them.

And so, the word seems to have gained traction for me with respect to three things that, while hardly constituting collections, do seem to have value in the judicious assembly and management thereof:

1. My wardrobe. I recently became aware that classic menswear is apparently having a moment, not that you would know from observing the average British street. I don’t collect clothes in the sense of wanting ever more – but there is something undeniably satisfying about assembling and then maintaining a meaningful and coherent wardrobe. This has become stronger as I have learned more about Italian tailoring which is my preferred style. It is perhaps easier for men, inasmuch as their classic style has a stronger code than the relative freeform of female scene, and thus it is perhaps a little easier to know what is needed. I will admit that opening a wardrobe to find a considered collection of appealing things to wear is very satisfying.  I have even learned to brush my shoes regularly.
2. Our home. The great thing about modern interior design is its lack of constraint from traditional notions of what an interior requires: no three-piece suites here. There is far more freedom of form and composition possible with modern approaches. I bring the consideration of design to bear on any and everything our home needs: when one appreciates the way that good design can transform even mundane items into things of satisfaction, why would one not? So inadvertently, we seem to have created a small collection of modernist design with pieces from the 1930s to the present represented. People don’t seem to see anything odd in collecting antiques – but doing the same with modern pieces….?
3. Our art works. That sounds terribly grand, but we are hardly in the league of collecting Picassos. What we have done is amass a small but pleasing selection of contemporary ceramics, mostly from makers in our region of eastern England, but also occasionally further afield. More recently, we have added a couple of original paintings. Viewed collectively, they add great visual richness to the experience of being in our home, to the extent that we sometimes have the pleasant sensation of living in a small art gallery.

None of which adds up to being avid collectors of anything – but somehow, the gentler sense of curating one’s possessions does enhance the process of owning things that we either need, or which more likely, just please us…