An Author, an Object, and a Home

Introduction to 'Take One Object', with Tomás Errázuriz
Bloomsbury in press

The introduction frames the book as a prototype of objectography, where forty-five contributors reflect on domestic objects to reveal how homes shape selves, relations, and cultural values. Rather than studying material culture in general, the essays highlight singular items that stand out through care, memory, or chance. Drawing on thinkers from Perec to Miller and Appadurai, the text situates homes as both intimate sites and analytical grounds, where ordinary things orient subjectivity, anchor histories, and open futures. Blending ethnography with design sensibilities, the book invites readers to notice the infraordinary, reconsider their own domestic surroundings, and begin new objectographies.

Keywords: home-making, domestic objects, objectography, material culture, everyday life, ethnography, design