Objects are the material form of how we understand ourselves.

The ceramics you collect on the windowsill are an autobiography. The way you arrange books by color, by subject, horizontally, in deliberate disorder is a philosophy. The single piece of art you own and have moved from apartment to apartment for a decade is a loyalty oath to a version of yourself you refuse to give up. In a way, it defines you through its presence.

This brings to mind an anecdote about Louis Kahn, American modern architect. "You say to a brick, 'What do you want, brick?' Brick says to you, 'I like an arch.' If you say to brick, 'Arches are expensive and I can use a concrete lintel over an opening. What do you think of that, brick?' Brick says: 'I like an arch'".

In this anecdote, the brick has will and wants to have a purpose to exist. It wants to define its presence in the form of an arch. Likewise, objects define a room with their presence, offering their own personalities which reflects yours.

This is not about having a perfectly designed room, per se. It's about having an honest one, uniquely yours, filled with objects of personal meaning.

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