quiddity [kwid-i-tee]
–noun, plural -ties.

1. the quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature of a thing.

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"One possible exception is the French philosopher and anthropologist Bruno Latour, who in recent years has insistently urged us to regard objects not merely as 'matters of fact,' in his formulation, but as 'matters of concern'. Instead of making things less interesting, by debunking the notion that things have meaning that can be discovered, he argues, enlightened critics ought to make things more interesting-by regarding every object as an association, a network, a gathering (ding, in German). Latour calls for 'a multifarious inquiry launched with the tools of anthropology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, sociology to detect how many participants are gathered in a thing to make it exist and to maintain its existence'."


Excerpt from Taking Things Seriously - 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance
Joshua Glenn & Carol Hayes

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"Among his own observations, Rybczynski cites essayist and critic Mario Praz’s ideas concerning 'Stimmung' or 'the sense of intimacy that is created by a room and its furnishings.' 'Stimmung', he says is 'a characteristic of interiors that has less to do with functionality than with the way that room conveys the character of its owner.' I believe photographs of our possessions and domestic patterns can be portraits, just like photographs of our faces."


Excerpt from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings
Kaylynn Deveney & Albert Hastings

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"My Town In My Home" - Collaboration between mafuyu and yoshikazu yamagata.

I translated the concept using babelfish... and it was a little confusing... From what I could decipher it sounds like they were working around the ideas that fashion inspires play, it is functional but also decorative. The knitted wearable houses stemmed from the idea that the wearer could become decoration completely, a toy for children to play with, and become more at one with their clothing.

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