apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I used to collect antique hurricane lanterns. They turned out to be a big help in the New York blackout a few years ago -- I had enough for all my neighbors.

I collect nice vintage and antique china - but I make a rule that if it's vintage, it has to go with my current kitchenware and either fulfill a function (such as a nice Pyrex casserole dish that I recently found) or replace something which needs replacing (currently looking for a Crown Lynn set to replace my dinner plates). As for antique china, I collected enough cup/saucer/plate sets to display on top of my drawers and hold a nice tea party, but I have no space for more so I'm holding off. If I see a really nice one I may start, but I would need to set up more shelving and I need to get the rest of my house in order first...
My cups:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/nessaneko/IMG_2484.jpg

When I was a kid I collected rocks.
I think I got over it some time in middle school. My mom was happy yo get rid of that collection!

Now I just want to start collecting art...not sure if I want to concentrate on a specific style or what...
I, too, do NOT want to start cluttering up my new apartment.

I'm a photographer who collects vintage cameras. Obviously the history of their use means something to me as part of my craft, and the collection works nicely with all of the framed photographs that I have displayed. As with every collection, part of the joy is in finding the cameras at estate sales and antique stores, along with some unlikely places - my press edition Polaroid Electric Eye was hiding out in a very shady thrift store in a tiny town that I passed through on a road trip last summer. Here are some of my cameras:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apartmentlife/2435423880/

Vintage cake plates and serving pieces.

This is a bit geeky, but I've collected rocks and stones since I was a kid. Not loads, just a few that mean a lot to me for sentimental reasons (e.g. a fossil sea urchin I found on the beach wit my grandad) - does anyone have any idea how I could display them? At the moment they're in a cluster on a shelf, but they don't look particularly good. Any ideas greatly appeciated.
Nadya

Doesn't the fact that you don't know what you want to collect make it yet another decorating affectation?

How about finding something you are interested in first and then gradually accumulating pieces because they have meaning.

I prefer John Pawson style minimalism to collecting for affect.

I agree with sfdoddsy. Collecting happens to you, not the other way around. I have an amazing ability to amass things and collections of every type just walking around, so I have to keep a strict eye on myself. Right now my favorite collection is found plastic animals. Also since I've been container gardening and have gone crazy I've been 'collecting' plants - I have 50 types of plants in a 400 sf garden right now!

I have some rocks that I collected as a kid, and some that were given to me by a jeweler. I just set some out in a succulent pot I put together... Nadya, maybe a shadow box or frame or the like would work for you. You can also just group your findings in vases or jars.

Re: the material debate... Acquiring doesn't *have* to be a bad thing, especially if it's vintage. Some rules like nessaneko's may be in order... space/money budgets... you don't want to just grab every little thing that fits the bill. Before you decide to collect something, you should consider what it's going to take to maintain it... does it need to be dusted, or to be displayed out of the sun, or aired once a year? If you consider the work collecting will take, it can help filter your purchases, so you only take home a few things that are truly precious.

Love the bird display. Unfortunately my cats would go nuts over it, as Magellan did with a feathery peacock Xmas ornament. I had it clipped to a light pull because that was the only place he couldn't get it, but he got hold of it while I was taking things down and mauled the poor creature.

BTW LOVE the bird collection and hownowdesign's house in general!

I've several collections, and they've been a challenge in moving to a small studio. I've had to deal with each differently. My PEZ collection (started when I was a kid) is about to find it's way onto ebay. It's just too much (I have over 200 pieces), and takes up too much space, and I've lost interest.

I am keeping my antique fine china salt and pepper shakers, but they are staying packed in a closet. I find that in my new place, having lots of little things, even displayed nicely created too much visual clutter.

Like Nessaneko, I have vintage kitchenware, but it's stuff with a practical purpose... I can use my Fireking measuring cups and batter bowl. I have a collection of blue Ball jars that I use as vases. I've also got lots of Libby glassware that I don't uses as much as I should.

But like the other posters say... collection best come about organically. Most of these things are items that I inherited from elderly family members, and they rich with nostalgia. Then I've added pieces along the way.

Nope, not a collector. I tend towards minimalism (although constantly beating back clutter). But, am fascinated by the true urge to collect, since I don't have that bug and don't understand it at all.

My husband collects cameras I collect tins and Eiffel Towers but really what happens is our collections own us, not the other way around.

I love collecting. I've always been a consumer when it comes to beautiful things that inspire me. When I moved into this apartment I found my lack of stuff cold & emotionless, so I upped the collecting (as my income grew) and it's been so fun. I love creating little vignettes, mostly vintage.

Everything follows the theme of being nature inspired - animals, faux bois, driftwood. And I have the most uncanny knack of finding wonderful free things.

The most challenging collection I have is furniture. I love it to death but am really running out of room...

I collect vintage cake and cupcake toppers and decorations. I have big and little clown picks, tiny record players and records, a carousel with horses, ballerina picks, animals, fairy tale characters, brides and grooms, holiday picks, you name it. I have canister after canister of decorations. And I do use them on cakes and cupcakes, and even on things like meatloaf. Seriously. You haven't had meatloaf until you have had it with a carousel or a circus train or a ferris wheel on top.

I need creative ways to display them. I am thinking of a little shadowbox shelf on the wall with little compartments in it, and even buying some faux cakes and cupcakes made of plaster and foam, and placing them around the kitchen on cake stands, with vintage cake decorations on top.

I will post photos when I am all done, in case anyone is interested in how it all turns out. :)

I don't collect a sort of thing, but I do tend to accumulate certain vintage items, a chair here, a typewriter there, some dish and serveware of course, a phone (actually 3 - and that's IT), a doorknob, some tablecloths, lamps, just that kind of random stuff. I don't consider it collecting since it's not on a level where I decide I like this and always looking for more of the same category. If I like something and I can get it, I want it and take it. It's sort of packratty that way, in whatever sense what I want is "shiny" to me and I need to save it. Doesn't need to be vintage to come to me, either, that's just the most semblance of a "category" I could define. Most stuff comes from the family, but I'm not trying to recreate my grandmother's parlor or my childhood home. I just think some of the pieces are not too bad and I want to keep 'em! They also want to give me useful stuff I hate sometimes, so I have not phased all that out either, but it's in the works.

I used to like to say I collected rabbits, but then I got some ugly ones and I didn't like them anymore.

I have a problem with vintage furniture.

Actually, my problem is with my 513 sf apartment, not the unbelievably cheap slat bench I recently found that has nowhere to go.

oh, new york apartment life. sigh.

Christmas decorations. Primarily vintage glass ornaments.

I collect dog figurines and Archie comics. : )

I agree with the other posters- collections can consume you but is kinda fun to collect items that are not common. I have collected old glove molds since high school. I purchased my first hand as an object for a still life to practice drawing.

Almost 20 years later- it amazing to see them pop up all over on AT house tours, cute NYC boutiques and rural junk stores. Because they can be expensive, especially the more unique and older ones, it keeps others from purchasing ‘gifts’- thankfully limiting the collection growth to a minimum. I do LOVE the comments (creeped out to the curious) from the impact of 15-20 hands standing at attention when guests come by for a visit. Definitely a conversation starter!

Oh- also collect art from friends, family and personal travel, MCM dinnerware, and McCoy planters. I don’t think of my home as cluttered- just comfortable and unique.

I've collected many things over the years, but I disavow it now. Collecting creates clutter. More damaging is that, as you collect you put a lot of energy and emotion into the objects, which can be very painful when you finally want to lighten your load.

Nothing was as painful/liberating as my last move. I downsized my living space by about 40% and whatever wasnt essential was put on the sidewalk with a little note explaining what it was, and that I hoped it went to a good home. Every single thing I put out was gone by the time I returned from work. (minus the broken HP scanner).

The current rule -only functional items come into the house (with a small exception for exceptional art). The collecting gene in me has swung towards furniture - which is great as a collectible because price/space seriously make you think before acquiring.

I love Ikea's Expedit shelves for displaying collections.
Here is my collection of orange retro vases.