House Art Journal: Collecting China Cups

A fun Friday post for paid subscribers

I have always been a collections person: there is very little of the minimalist in me. When I was a child, I collected and cataloged stuffed animals. As a teen, I moved into china figurines of animals. As a young adult, I moved into vintage books and beaded purses. But when I became a mother, I realized that my collecting habit needed to be reined in. First of all because as a housewife, part of my job is maintaining the things we have, such as appliances, furniture, and clothing. To spend extra time and energy on maintaining a collection (and protecting it from toddlers) seemed an exercise in futile frustration. So I switched to collecting china. Not the pricey designer stuff, but the kind we actually use. As I’ll explain later, I set the parameters for my collection: colors had to coordinate with my house palette of red, blue, and green. Price had to be about $1 or $2 a piece. And we had to use them, or give them away.