Objects have been known to hold sentimental value. This ability for a design to evoke pleasant feelings or nostalgia is very subjective and therefore something that can be very complicated for a designer to intentionally work into their design. In my experience one particular object gained my affections at a very young age. Growing up on a farm in New Mexico, with no cable television, and home schooled gave my imagination little to want for. Socially however, I had little interaction with other kids aside from my sisters. This whole scenario did make it easy for me to form a sort of bond with an in-animate object or two. The one that stands out as my first positive design related memory was with a metal tea filter. It was the size and shape of a spoon with two scoops joined on one side by a hinge that allowed it to swing open. On the other side there was a latch that would secure with a click to lock closed. Small holes allowed for the tea to infuse into the hot water with allowing any leaf to escape it's vessel. There was something about this object I was drawn to. It might have been the way the metal always felt cold in my hand, or it's kinetic ability to swing back and forth. I remember how I enjoyed the tapping sound it made when it opened and closed and would play a game to see how many times I could swing it on it's hinge with out it latching.
My family was never big on drinking tea and I'm sure that it never served it's intended purpose. To me however, this simple object, was more than a utensil, or even a toy, I really felt like it was my first friend. As a designer this amazes me because I would never put the two together, as I'm sure the designer of the teaspoon filter never took sentimental value into consideration during the design process. However unintentional, through a simple and obsolete design, that person was able to bring joy to a little farm girl in New Mexico and again to this California city girl too.
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