Material Culture Minute: "American Rustic"

Interesting article in The New York Times today about an aesthetic designers, collectors, and pickers are cobbling together using late nineteenth-century, early twentieth-century items: Not "the Victoriana that has been so popular in recent years," but "a simpler, more rustic and American-inflected style that is more general store than taxidermy-appointed lodge, and that emphasizes objects that are well-made, durable and useful: wire storage baskets, machine-age metal tools, leather couches, canvas bags, colorful woolen blankets and interiors made of barn wood." (think Ralph Lauren, as the article suggests)

My favorite part (or the part to which I relate most):

"When she leaves a flea market or antiques fair, she said, she puts whatever she has bought beside her, on the passenger’s seat, so she can look at it on the way home. 'My heart just starts to really beat,' she said. 'I wouldn’t make a dime in the antiques business. I’d want to keep everything.'"

Enjoy the tag sale season!