Knickknacks, trinkets, tchotchkes, collectibles. We all have things that we proudly place around our homes for everyone—and mostly importantly, ourselves—to see. Since the beginning of time, humans have always been this way, endlessly obsessed with collecting things, functional or not.
When I look around my own space, I see a little ceramic dog, a vintage brass horse matchbox, a pewter candlestick, a mini silver magnifying glass, and a clay piggie toothpick holder, among many other little objects. Some are almost 100 years old, while others are recent acquisitions. Old or new, received or bought, I’m happy to have them grace my shelves, nightstands, and tables. There’s no better feeling than when someone asks me “Where did you get that?” because it means I get to tell the story of me and this little object.
Georgia Somary, the Los Angeles–based interior stylist and designer behind Earl Grey Studio, described the urge to collect as inevitable. “Collecting is such a part of the human identity, and the desire to display things even in a minimal space is in our nature—even if that’s a singular, thoughtfully displayed object,” she explains. “From childhood, most of us collect something, be it pebbles or stickers—often things you appoint your own value to.”
While strolling through Carroll Gardens, I often find myself at Yesterday’s News, a family-run vintage shop filled with gems in Brooklyn. Helaina Ferraioli, who works at her parents’ shop and grew up around interesting objects, believes that “knickknacks are makers of identity and home.” She continues, “they are semipublic displays of interests, taste, and love. They are splatters of joy throughout a space. Some personal items are tucked into closets and shoved into drawers, but a person’s knickknacks are those items they hope to witness and live among every day.”
