For this part of the assignment we had to carry out interviews with people to collect information from them.
To start the interviews I asked my flat mate Clare would she ask a friend from her course to meet us at a café to answer a few questions. We arranged to meet the next day with two of Clare’s course mates and one of there flat mates. I thought meeting at a café was the best option to keep an informal interview, more of a chat really. Each of the three people I was interviewing that day asked to not be named on my blog so I have kept there details confidential. Below is what I found from the interviews.
Female, Law student
When asking the questions I found that she collected cocktail rings, it all started around eight years ago when her grand mother passed on one of her cocktail rings to her. She said that she would never have collected something like this unless it was from some special that started it off, which her grand mother was. I asked her if there was any reason behind why her grand mother kept it or why she passed it on, but she didn’t seem to think so. It was more just a special piece of jewellery that she wanted her grand daughter to have and keep for the future. She carried on the collection due to finding these pieces of jewellery pretty and functional. She told me that it was hard to find more of them and that she would have to go to vintage shops and boot sales to get them. She keeps them in a vintage 40’s jewellery box that was also give to her from her grand mother at the same time. After finishing talking about her grand mothers jewellery, I asked her why she thought people collected/kept stuff? She answered with, “I think its more about the sentimental value of an item rather than what it actually is, like my grand mothers ring, I don’t think I would have collected more of them or kept it if I hadn’t been given it by my grand mother in the first place. It can be nice to keep happy things around you. Other times it’s just force of habit of not throwing things out.“
Female, Law + French student
When I started talking to this girl she was glad she went after the first interview as she found it hard to think of something, but in the end she realised that she collected/held onto tickets of all the gigs she had been to before. Which makes me think that maybe sometimes people don’t even realise they collect thing, and she said the same thing that she never really noticed herself specifically saving them, it was just automatic. She said the reason she kept them was that she liked to be reminded of all of the people she had been to see and this was an easy way. She has them stuck over her shelves in her bedroom at home, so that it is easy to be reminded of them which is a big deal to her as she said she loves music. When asked how long she has had them for, she thought that the first one she has is from 2006 which would been she started to keep them for five years. When asked why do people collect/keep stuff? She said, “People like to be reminded of things they have done or places they have been to. With keeping hold of things from these place, they keep the memories in them and make is easier to remind yourself of things.”
Female, Nurse
For the last interviewee when we were in the café this girl said that the thing she collects and treasures the most are cards that she has kept from many different occasions such as birthday, christmas, good luck, congratulations etc. When trying to explain why she had kept them she was finding it hard to explain this, but she basically was trying to say was that she didn’t like to throw away stuff that someone had personally made or wrote for her. She said that it is nice to look back at them years down the line and to see who was in your life at that period of time. Which isn’t really a meaning to them but was that she liked to keep hold of personal stuff. All of the cards are stored in a large box in her bedroom at home, that she has had for years. She said that after her next birthday she will have to get another box as the one she has is nearly full. She thinks the first card she has kept was from her first holy communion which with her being 20 years old was a long time ago. When asked why do people collect/keep stuff? She said, “I think it’s because the item/stuff you keep is usually given to you by someone so you want to keep it as it is a gift, but also if you like a certain thing then there is more reason to not through it away, and to gather more of them. It’s more of a personal thing to yourself whilst other people could wonder why you would keep such a thing.”
For my last interview I went down to my next door neighbour that I have only meet a few times to ask some questions. This is what I found out from talking to her.
Female, Art student
We went into her bedroom to have the interview as she trying to organise some work at the same time. When talking she said about how her granny made her a Dumbo headboard and ever since then she has collected all elephant like things, such as toys, teddies etc. so when I was looking around her room I thought it was strange the way she had no signs of this, but she then said that all of this stuff is kept in her bedroom in her family home. She has now got to the stage that she doesn’t want to throw them away, especially since it has been fifteen years since she started collecting them. Over the years most of the items came from family member and close friends. Since being in her room it was good as I noticed that elephants were not the only thing she kept, she had a drawer full of what it looked like receipts, train tickets and gig tickets etc. When I asked her about it she said that it was just a habit to throw them in the drawer and once they were put in there she didn’t really like to get rid of them. I then asked her why do you think people collect/keep stuff? She answered with, “Many nostalgic purpose, but I guess some people like having a story to tell and don‘t like to throw away things they have had for years.”
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