9> Containing

The last ten entries to this blog are about objects designed to contain other objects, to store someone’s everyday possessions. Some are static and rigid, designed as desktop or shelftop objects (boxes); some are dynamic and flexible, designed to adapt to the human body like a second skin (billum, rathak). Some represent the failure of consumerism and the quest for the cheap in our industrial civilization (plastic bag); some celebrate the traditions of ancient civilizations and the cultural benefit of making things meaningfully (parfleche flat bag). Some are about masterful craftsmanship (phingaruk); some about functional readjustment (take-out container). It is remarkable to realize the amount of different objects designed to contain other objects, and how this suggests that individuals of every civilization surround themselves with the things they need to have and the objects they want to have around them at all times. Objects designed to contain other objects are present in every human society despite geographic location, history or degree of isolation in relation to other cultures. Some of the bags and containers produced by the so called primitive societies, using natural fibers and processes, have a degree of sophistication foreign to the industrial expediency we are used to in our own societies. What is then the meaning of craft and how does it apply to our everyday needs? How does one of our mass-produced, inexpensive, overseas-manufactured tote bags –for example- compare to the complexity of a phingaruk, or a rathak?