The good stuff

Too much. Too pointless. Objects constantly seem to be under suspicion. The instinct to buy less and “consume consciously” feels like the new norm, or at least, that’s what we hear. But perhaps the real question isn’t how much we own, but why we own all those things.

As humans, we build a large part of our identity out of things. Sometimes as a distraction, superficial greed, or as a “victim” of consumption, but often also as an attempt to gain recognition in a big, messy world.

And it’s not new, either, as Sander van Walsum writes in de Volkskrant. Psychologist Russell Belk already introduced the concept of the extended self back in 1988. Our possessions - a fine perfume, a beautiful book, a new pair of trousers - are ultimately just an extension of who we are, or who we would like to be.

Buy Better

Maybe it’s not even about our urge to consume, but about the quality of things. A carefully chosen gift is never just an object — it is a tangible expression of attention.

The Vinted Effect

It’s no coincidence that vintage keeps popping up everywhere, thanks in part to the Vinted effect. “The quality and the cut are simply better.” Generations and their belongings inevitably reflect a cultural moment in time.

So the problem isn’t that we own too much, but that we attach too little meaning to what we have and what we buy. Perhaps that is what sustainability really means: not distancing ourselves from objects, but forming a relationship with material.

In a time when digital environments blur our connection with the real world, we can still rely on the objects we love.

Instead of striving for fewer things, we could strive for things that enable relationships, between people, between generations, between humans and materials.

Because it is precisely in the tangible that the future becomes feelable.

At Next Nature, we make speculations tangible in material form, in order to understand possible futures and the values we cherish (or perhaps reject).