Survival kits for homebound creatives around the world
#everythingwetouchcovidessentialsx15 was launched by Paula Zuccotti, the multifaceted designer, ethnographer, and author of Every Thing We Touch, a volume by Penguin Books (2015) that investigates the domestic landscape through the everyday items that will probably become the guiding fossils of future archaeologists.
“What do an orange, a bottle of wine, a kettlebell, kefir grains, a sage smudge stick, a candle, Agua de Florida, garden seeds and a vinyl have in common?”, asked Paula on Instagram at the end of April 2020.
“These are part of my Covid-19 essentials. What are yours? I invite all my friends and #EveryThingWeTouch fans to join in this mini-challenge/project/experiment where I ask you all to photograph the 15 items that have become essential to your life during these peculiar times. I think this is a unique time where I can reach out to all my friends around the world on the assumption that we all know what we are talking about. Maybe you are a key worker, maybe you are helping others, maybe you are recovering, or like the majority of us simply staying at home to do our bit. I’m curious to see your story.”
The challenge was straightforward: looking at the mass of objects collected over the years, people would have to choose their must-haves. There were no awards involved. Simply the pleasure of taking part in a creative project that made us think about our everyday life during the Coronavirus quarantine. An exceptional period that affected everyone everywhere, no matter our latitude, age, profession or photographic skills.
The results were beyond expectations. Facilitated by the fact that they/we were facing a new common routine, people from all over the world – the UK, Hong Kong, Argentina, the US, Chile, Japan, India and Taipei, to name just a few – contributed with their shots.
When looking at the pictures and reading the captions, you don’t feel like Peeping John, but more like a legal voyeur allowed by the owner to enter his/her private world. Kids, pets, comfort food, devices, plants, unexpected tools and games are visualised in professional still lifes, amateur pictures, illustrations and even short videos. Students from the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism of UBA (University of Buenos Aires) submitted some really fresh proposals. All entries can be found here. It would be interesting to examine the recurrence of favourite items to nominate the best essentials, but we’ll have to wait for the final one first.
These are my Covid-19 essentials:
- Coffee, of course
- Laptop
- Book(s) to travel through time and space. In Patagonia, by Bruce Chatwin
- A comfort chair to seat on my balcony
- My daughter Claire, an accidental guest. Being a pastry chef she transformed it into #mysweetquarantine
- Netflix to feed my cinematic bulimia
- Candles to celebrate Birthday video parties of Aries and Taurus
- A four-leaf clover (an obsession) because we always need a bit of luck (it comes from Puerto Natales, Chile, my last trip before Covid-19.)
- Tea served in one of my teapots collected around the world (this one comes from the magic island of Miyajima, Japan)
- Beauty mask
- Plants & greenery
- Daily beauty care as suggested by Valeria Settembre with Cristina Fogazzi
- Internazionale, a weekly magazine to stay connected with the world and get insight views
- Mandatory mask to go out
- Dark chocolate as a daily drug
By the way, Paula and I met in Amhult (Sweden), during an inspiring talk at the Ikea 2018 Trends press launch.