I’ve never particularly been one for collecting things in the past. Not to say I wasn’t a hoarder: I’d tend to buy pretty things indiscriminately, fall out of love with them over time, then have a mass purge of accumulated stuff in a fit of spring cleaning. But I’m learning how a carefully edited and curated collection of similar items can be a joy to find and display at home.
My first collection combines my primary loves of cats and ephemera – I’ve started keeping a beady eye out for old postcards, ads and postage stamps with kitties on for my ever-expanding wall of joy.
I picked up these new additions at the Sunday collectors’ market at Mercado da Ribeira in Lisbon. I wasn’t expecting much of that market, down at Cais do Sodre on the riverbanks, but it had a few star stalls of bargainous stamps as well as coins, postcards and some other bits and pieces. (It’s also next door to a lovely deli and coffee shop.) All those stamps cost me 3 euros and they will look great framed up on my wall.
My other new things is ceramic owls. I just bought these guys from Etsy sellers eeksten and BrightWallVintage, aren’t they sweet? Etsy is a great place to go looking for collectibles, especially when you can pick up an ‘instant collection’ to get you started like the lot of wall-hung owls above. The black fella was handcrafted in Mexico, I couldn’t resist his sweet little face.
Do you collect anything? Where do you go looking and how do you display it in your home?
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Comments (9)
Zoë
January 22nd 2011 at 2:25 pm
postcards are my one weakness, someday I hope I will too have somewhere to display them.
I really am fond of the kitty stamps too.
Katiecakes
January 22nd 2011 at 2:42 pm
I collect vintage cakes stands. I have them dotted around everywhere, even the bathroom. They look lovely piled high with decorative soaps.
I love your cat collection. The stamps look so great framed up like that.
Katie xox
mizhenka
January 22nd 2011 at 4:04 pm
The framed cat stamps look brilliant!
I used to collect stamps and 'foreign' coins as a child, and still have both collections. I no longer collect stamps and the Euro has made collecting coins less exciting!
There isn't anything I collect as such anymore. People tend to buy me Russian or polar bear themed items, though!
Little Lj
January 22nd 2011 at 4:33 pm
I collect snowglobes from all the places I've visited! They sit in little groups on various surfaces and always make me smile!
andrea
January 23rd 2011 at 2:51 am
I love the kitten stamps. I've been collecting nice looking stamps with the intention of framing them too
becks
January 23rd 2011 at 12:19 pm
when i was a kid i collected owls too! i had over 150 of them in my room, mainly in a little display thing, like a big picture frame split into little boxes that hung on my wall. had some lovely ones. no idea what happened to them…
Jessica
January 23rd 2011 at 2:22 pm
Love the owls! There seems to be so many nice owl motif things around at the moment, it's great. I don't have any collections as such but one of my prized possessions is a kitsh powder blue swan planter with a gold beak that I'd really like to expand on.
Lu Burnell
January 24th 2011 at 12:44 am
What a gorgeous collection of art, I'm so jealous of your owly collections and I love your illustration work by the way, inspiring!
eeksten
February 7th 2011 at 5:39 am
I saw your post in my google analytics. I LOVE that the black owl has such a happy home. Thanks again! Those cat stamps are amazing.