Often the smallest things can hold the most meaning. I bought a flat in 2019 and finally was able to have a secure permanent place for all my things I’ve been lugging around the UK. Finally, I can display my vinyl, magazines and computer games. But hiding at the bottom of a lot of the boxes of possessions are the tchotchkes, gonks, cereal toys, giveaways, presents, tools and misc items which you picked up or were given along the way. Presents from friends, promotional items given away at work or just little things you simply had to have. They span a long period of my life and while I have some of them out on shelves a lot live in the cupboard. So in 2020, the year of crazy where street photography meant photos of empty streets, I thought I’d give these memory-filled trinkets a second wind. Another moment in the sun, or rather LED lights of the small white box I bought from Amazon during the lockdown. Each one tells a story and so here we go…
Rubberband Ball
I was living with Anna and she had this rubber band ball. In the UK a lot of Postmen/women use red elastic bands to hold together letters and you can sometimes find them on the street. Anna had diligently built this ball from those very bands and I coveted it. Eventually, she gave it to me and it’s been in boxes for a lot of its time with me. Now the rubber has so perished a band will sometimes ping off when you handle it. It now lives on my shelf.
England Stamp
When I started in business with Phil we didn’t have much money to get letterheads printed. The name of the business was England Art, mainly because we just liked the sound of the word England. Companies House said that we should add something to it as just calling and company England might not be approved for nationalist reasons so we added Art to it. We inkjet printed a letterhead with our address on and a box at the top with the ART at the bottom and used this stamp to A.add some colour and B.its arty ain’t it.
R2D2
The little R2 unit stands only 6cm tall and has a battery and remote control. I bought him when I was working at Livenation and he zipped around my desk there for all of about half an hour before he broke down. Now that’s what I call dedication to staying in character. I’ve since bought a much bigger model that rotates his head and makes suitable noises, as well as the two or three R2D2 Lego minifigs I have. I like R2D2, when you see those polls voting for the best robot in sci-fi well there is no competition, just like the best space ship, it’s the Millenium Falcon obviously.
Understand Pin
In 2003 I worked at an e-learning company in Winchester and they had a piece of technology called Understand which was aimed at improving the lack of face to face tuition in e-learning. They needed a logo and I designed this incredibly generic butterfly shape and to my Senior Designers horror, the marketing people chose it. It might not be original but it makes a lovely pin badge.
Pet Shop Boy’s Play Button
This was a special edition of the Pet Shop Boy’s Electric Album that comes on a button badge that holds a little MP3 player. It only has an earphone socket on the top and some play buttons on the back, you charge it through the earphone socket with a USB cable provided. It now sits on top of my speakers in my living room. Incidentally, I was going to buy a signed print of the cover to frame but I didn’t, I wish I had now.
Pocket Watch
I’d only been dating Madly for a couple of months when Christmas came around and despite not knowing each other very well we had a bash at buying presents. I can’t even remember what I bought her but I was astounded when I opened this pocket watch. I have never wanted or even needed a pocket watch but I loved it and it will remain a treasured possession.
Eurodisney Keyrings
I’ve been to Eurodisney twice. Once in the early nineties a couple of years after it had just opened and then again in about 2008. Both times I bought a keyring with my initial, you can tell which is which. Eurodisney is a funny place. I love a good roller coaster but I’m not especially a Disney fan. I think The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was my favourite ride.
Star Wars 1977 Badge
This is an original 1977 Star Wars badge released around the same time as the movie. There are a number of designs I’ve seen on eBay over the years but this is the poster design and I love it. It was given to me by a girlfriend who knew I loved Star Wars, incidentally, when we split up she asked for it back, I probably should have given it to her but I didn’t.
Printers Magnify Glass
This goes way back to when I was 17 back in 1989! I had left school and had managed to get a place on a one year Graphic Design foundation course at Southfields in Leicester. I quickly became friend with a guy called Rob and eventually went over to his house as he was setting up a vinyl sign company. His dad was a printer and he gave me this Printers Magnify Glass, used to check close up registration and colour on 4 colour lithography printing. I’ve had it ever since and also still the little leather case it came in.
iPod Nano Fallout 3
This iPod Nano was given to me by Keith when we worked at IPC. It has the Fallout 3 logo engraved on the back. As far as I know, it still works but I haven’t used it in years. I really like the way it curves at the edges and it’s a lovely thing to hold in your hand.
Nanoblocks Panda
I was given this by Danielle while I worked at Immediate Media. I think it might have lost a couple of blocks and when you shake it there is something loose inside, maybe a baby nanoblock panda? It’s pretty dusty, it’s been around the UK and also spent a year in storage while I was in New York but it now has a forever home on my shelf next to my cardboard Millenium Falcon.
Scottish Referendum Yes & No Badges
In 2014 I was living in Livingston between Edinburgh and Glasgow and working at Freeagent in the Haymarket area of Edinburgh. During my time there Scotland was deciding whether to stay with the United Kingdom or split off into its own country. It was fascinating and I even got to vote myself but during that time I collected these two badges for the opposing sides of the argument.
Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds
In 2010 Ai Weiwei had an exhibit at Tate modern which consisted of millions of individually handcrafted porcelain sunflower seeds which were spread out over the ground floor. If you managed to get there early enough you were allowed to walk on them, touch them and… steal a few. They eventually stopped people walking on them because they said it was kicking up dust which might be dangerous but it probably was because people were walking away with handfuls.
Orange Earphone Splitter Robot
This was a promo item I got from Orange when I was a subscriber and the two eyes are where you put your two earphones and the head pulls off to go into whatever music source you both want to listen to. Pretty neat design and very cute object except it never worked.
Two Pound coins
These are a small collection I have of £2 coins which have designs that mean something to me. Top left is a coin about Florence Nightingale who was born on the same date at me. Next is the abolition of slavery and on the right is Charles Darwin cos science innit? Bottom left is the United Kingdom and the bottom right is Charles Dickens.
(the best of) New Order promo puzzle
I actually have no idea where I got this, most probably from my friend Mark who was a record dealer in the nineties. As a compilation, this was nowhere near as good as Substance and even the cover wasn’t as good but as far as promo items go, it’s a nice one.
Snooker Chalk
When I was a child we had a 6ft snooker table in our dining room, my dad and brother would play after tea and friends would often come over for a game. I even had snooker lessons at a snooker club on Loughborough. In later life I often played pool, especially when I worked at LiveNation as they had a pool table and would play with Tom. In 2017 I live in a Guardianship in Borough and a couple of the guys who lived there bought a ¾ size slate bed table only to find they couldn’t get it up the stairs, so it lived in our room. The chalk is from then when I would play almost every night. The table was really beaten up but Enna bought me a cue and it was good to get my cueing eye back in.
Tate Members Cards
When I worked at IPC, the Blue Fin Building was right behind Tate Modern. When I was stuck and needed inspiration I would walk over to Tate and browse the book store or see an exhibition. Over the years the members cards changed designs and some are lovely, others not, but despite that they open up a world of amazing imagery and a feast for the eyes, as well as the member’s bar ;)
Download festival programme
In 2007 I was working for LiveNation who run the Download festival in Donnington Park. This was a lanyard I designed which doubled as a festival programme, map, merch and other important information. The year before my first project at LiveNation was to design the festival skrim, which is the huge speaker covers either side of the stage, I think that’s the largest thing I’ve ever designed, you can see it here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/spooke/163851227/in/photolist-ftMga
Porsche 356 Diecast Model
I have a driving license which I got over 17 years ago but I have neither driven or owned a car since passing. I’ve always lived in cities with great public transport and never really considered having a car. But if I did, there is only one car I would consider; the Porsche 356. The most beautiful car in the world, in my opinion. Designed by Ferry Porsche, the son of the founder of the Porsche company in 1948 and based on the Beetle. It hasn’t been bettered.
Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros
The newest and shiniest thing in my collection of Things of my life is the 35th Anniversary special edition Game and Watch Super Mario Bros. I admit I was never a Nintendo boy when this came out in 1985, I was still very much into my Sinclair Spectrum but over the years I’ve found myself playing this game on emulators, my 3DS, my GPD XD and my Nes Classic. I also have to admit I’m more of a Sonic fan but this is very much the OG of platformers and this Game and Watch edition was too nice to pass up. Happy Anniversary Mario!