Notions
On a perfect day in what seems a lifetime ago, I was making my way through a gallery at the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki, peering into one display case brimming with ancient wonders after another. A small group of tiny bronze coils and a modern re-creation showing shiny new coils stitched in patterns onto cloth kept me rooted in place long enough that a docent stopped to ask if I was OK. Seeing an Iron Age example of mixed materials—bronze and handspun wool—up close had shifted my perspective on the very human relationship with embellishment as nothing ever had. The desire to beautify, to develop the skills needed to embellish our bodies and our homes, to gather materials of all sorts—be they ancient bronze coils or plastic beads—has been…
