Occasionally, I can be one of Those People: a person who saves things because they seem too lovely to actually use. A prime example would be this treasured teacup and saucer that has sat on a shelf in my kitchen for the past two years, being looked at, but never used. I had seen it and wanted it so badly that it actually made me ache a little to leave the shop without buying it...but then several months later my father gave me some money at Christmas time and it seemed the perfect self-indulgent thing to spend it it.
The set is made by Wedgwood for the Harlequin range, which borrowed its designs from the archives at the Wedgwood Museum Trust. Everything about this little teacup delights me - its beautiful colours against the flecks of gold; that the Harlequin range is an eclectic bunch of mismatched cup and saucer sets, rather than a tasteful range designed in harmonising colours; that it came cocooned in a beautiful turquoise and gold hatbox for protection.
And then last week, without really thinking about it, I found myself getting up from my computer, taking the teacup from the shelf and making myself a pot of herb tea (Pukka's aniseed, fennel and cardamom). I'm unsure what caused this, but the tea tasted wonderful and every time I saw the lovely teacup and the beautiful roses (they were my mother's, given to me so that didn't go unlooked-at in an empty house while she was away for the weekend) on the table while I typed away I felt very happy indeed.
And so it seems that using lovely things feels even better than just looking at them...so I think the future may hold half-empty jars of Laura Mercier Creme Brulee Honey Bath, a bar of Vetiver & Rose soap that has had the scent thoroughly sniffed away, White Company Winter-scented candles burnt with abandon and Anna Maria Horner voile fabrics made into garments, rather than being hoarded for the elusive perfect pattern.
Do you have things that you can't bring yourself to use?
Florence x