The urge to collect

Collecting is an instinct. As a child, I collected stamps and books like most, but also candy wrappers with beautiful patterns that I pasted into a book. Animals also collect for their nests, sticks and bits they find cozy. Collecting and having a bad memory isn't actually that bad. Squirrels collect acorns and forget where they buried them, then voila, a bunch of oak trees sprout up. What a contribution. What would the Vasa ship be without squirrels?

These days, I collect manhole covers. I don't bring them home, I just photograph them.

Here are a couple of beauties from Tallinn.

I found this in Brooklyn, New York

As a designer, one gathers impressions and things that inspire. Shelves and wardrobes easily fill up. That's when it's more practical to take photographs. Lisbon is indeed a real source of inspiration, with all the beautiful tiled houses. But, of course, I also looked down the street quite a bit while I was there.

That`s when I found this beautiful street painting.

Once I visited a doctor who collected owls. It was an extensive collection that occupied a large part of the small office, and he himself bore a striking resemblance to an owl. When I asked how he started collecting, he replied that it all began, of course, with one owl. Then he received another from a friend who thought his owl needed a companion. After that, number three arrived from someone who noticed his owl collection - and so it went on.

There used to be a small decorative elephant on the desk, but he promptly removed it – you never know how that could have ended, he said.

I read somewhere that collecting is a disaster behavior. I don't know much more about it. But I suddenly discovered that I seem to collect umbrellas when I gathered them all up and put them in a box. Prepared for a catastrophic downpour, simply put.

What inspires you? Do you collect anything?