About

An exploration of things that are cared for, valued and collected

This site features a (seemingly random) collection of odds and ends that I’ve stored in boxes over the years. It’s the kind of collection I imagine most designers have. Objects that catch the eye, designs that inspire, and random things that are just entertaining. References. All real though. Physical, tangible and treasure like.

After recently going through these boxes – lost in storage for 15 years – I felt the need to explore what I’d kept. So, at printedmatters.club, that’s what I’ll be doing: looking back at the pieces of print that inspired, sharing them and the reasons they still matter, perhaps now more than ever.

Thoughts and themes I’ll explore

Why did I collect and keep these things?
If we collect things but don’t show and share them, then are we just hoarding?
Could reviewing and sharing our collections be a meditative practice that helps us better engage with ourselves and others?
AI images are really giving me the ick, and have started to make me physically nauseous when I see them. What’s that about?
The ease of making AI images makes me not care, or feel connected, or feel admiration for the prompt-creator of them. To print something however is to commit and believe in your work, so brings with it a nicer feel of admiration. Could AI drive us toward valuing real things more in future?
What’s the impact of re-digitising all these printed matters and creating yet more digital assets? How do we calculate the value of creative/social vs environmental impact?
What’s the value of indiweb experiments like these these days. Just putting things out there, making homes for things that aren’t dependent on or at the will of third party social platforms?
Should I syndicate some of this content on social media platforms? To make it more accessible and visible to a wider audience that might enjoy it?
Are my hunches right that this project could allow for new avenues of ‘networking’ (having conversations with interesting people) and transacting (giving these items away for the cost of the connection)?
Have I basically just made a 2024 version of the original 2007 itsnicethat.com? Huge it true.

Created by

Me, Mathew Wilson / documenteering.com

Visual inspiration

The more time I spend going back through these boxes, the more I remember a pang to have lots of items on display. All together in a big composition, set out nice and tidy, or smushed together haphazardly so they can be enjoyed in juxtaposition.

Partly, I think the inspiration for this sort of thing comes from Island Time by Simon Evans, in which Simon photographed, laid out and labeled everything he has in one lovely big composition…

I also liked the work of Barry McGee, in particular how he would set out his exhibitions, with framed pieces, next to pieces pinned to the wall, next to spray cans featuring illustrated faces on them, sitting on little wooden shelves. Other times, just a massive wall of frames.

Barry McGee at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2012

And the inspiration has gone on, collected through the years, reminding me how I love displays that combine and celebrate seemingly mundane or intensely personal objects and possessions.

Driftwood organised neatly by Emily Blincoe

Office junk draw organised, not too neatly, by me

Conceptual inspiration

Another type of inspiration to this kind of project is other odd collections and projects that some people might think are pointless or odd wastes of time.

To those people I say, you need to loosen up. To those that do unusual projects or take time curating odd collections, I say, thank you.

Perhaps one of my earliest inspirations for odd collections was being given a copy of Home-Made: Contemporary RussianFolk Artifacts in 2006. The objects in this book would be considered trash by most people, but taking time to document and respect their existence and the human effort that went into creating them is wonderful.

But there are tons of other examples. Here’s are some projects and archives that have entertained and inspired me. A list that I’ll continue to add to as I remember and likely find more.