I hope you will forgive me (“me” being...

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Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

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[Background on, & press coverage of, Unconsumption can be found here and here.]

Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

Unconsumption is free.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

* * *

Alumnus & Unconsumption logo creator: Clifton Burt, graphic designer, Portland, OR

Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

7:45 pm - Sat, Jul 21, 2012: 23 notes

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I hope you will forgive me (“me” being Unconsumption co-founder Rob Walker) for a post that slightly crosses over with a separate project.

In New York recently, at the launch event for a book that I co-edited, I had the pleasure of meeting in person for the first time the delightful Tiffany Threadgould. You may recall she was the first contributor to our Uncollection effort — and she was wearing the Uncollection earrings she created!

It was a highlight of the evening for me, and that’s really saying something.

In a post this week on her site, Tiffany writes about the aforementioned book, Significant Objects, the culmination of a project overseen by Joshua Glenn and me, which involved commissioning fiction about thrift-store doodads, and selling the story/object pairs on eBay. She cunningly connects the effort to upcycling, here. Not surprisingly, I completely agree with her point of view on the matter. But she expresses it better than I ever did:

In a way, each piece has been upcycled. But rather than changing the shape of the object and repurposing it, the original form and function remain the same. Additional value is given to each piece in the form of a short story. Simply brilliant. Sometimes objects don’t need changing. They just need to be looked at in a different way.

What can I say? Thank you Tiffany!!!

http://replayground.blogspot.com/2012/07/significant-objects.html