A global field guide to design, (life)style and secret finds est. 2007
My Collections: Vintage Badges
Well, this is a little revealing, isn't it? In the first of a brand new We Are Scout series, Lisa and I will be sharing some of the things we like to collect. Or, as in the case of today's post, sentimental collections we've inherited.
Many of my old Wee Birdy readers might recall that I've inherited my mum's love for collecting things. From my low-brow '80s collection of rubbers (that's what we called them back then - 'erasers' in suburban Australia was a foreign word) and stickers to Tudor tiles scavenged bankside on the Thames, you'll find that my taste for curios is eclectic, to say the least.
Today's collection is one I mostly inherited from my mum, and it reveals quite a bit about my family's political activist leanings. Collected mainly from the mid-60s through to the '80s, you can tell that my parents and grandparents participated in quite a few May Day parades back in the day.
From this group of vintage protest and activist badges, you can also see that they were basically activists for peace; human rights; women's rights; indigenous Australians' rights; and the environment. It might not sound exactly radical to our 2015-thinking, but back in the '60s it was a totally different story. (No wonder I wandered around uni in the early '90s in a Sinead O'Connor t-shirt with the slogan 'Keep Your Laws Off Our Bodies'...)
Apart from their historical and sentimental significance, there's also a lot to love from a design perspective. Personal favourites include the graphic 'Resist' badge; International Women's Year Australia; 'Uranium? No Thanks'; 'Free Angela Davis'; and the Vietnam moratorium badges.
Now, I bet you weren't expecting that today! Next week, a peek into another personal collection.
Tell me: have you inherited any vintage badges? What do they reveal about your family's history?
Photography and styling by Lisa Tilse for We Are Scout.
This post was originally published on We Are Scout.
Well, this is a little revealing, isn't it? In the first of a brand new We Are Scout series, Lisa and I will be sharing some of the things we like to collect. Or, as in the case of today's post, sentimental collections we've inherited.
Many of my old Wee Birdy readers might recall that I've inherited my mum's love for collecting things. From my low-brow '80s collection of rubbers (that's what we called them back then - 'erasers' in suburban Australia was a foreign word) and stickers to Tudor tiles scavenged bankside on the Thames, you'll find that my taste for curios is eclectic, to say the least.
Today's collection is one I mostly inherited from my mum, and it reveals quite a bit about my family's political activist leanings. Collected mainly from the mid-60s through to the '80s, you can tell that my parents and grandparents participated in quite a few May Day parades back in the day.
From this group of vintage protest and activist badges, you can also see that they were basically activists for peace; human rights; women's rights; indigenous Australians' rights; and the environment. It might not sound exactly radical to our 2015-thinking, but back in the '60s it was a totally different story. (No wonder I wandered around uni in the early '90s in a Sinead O'Connor t-shirt with the slogan 'Keep Your Laws Off Our Bodies'...)
Apart from their historical and sentimental significance, there's also a lot to love from a design perspective. Personal favourites include the graphic 'Resist' badge; International Women's Year Australia; 'Uranium? No Thanks'; 'Free Angela Davis'; and the Vietnam moratorium badges.
Now, I bet you weren't expecting that today! Next week, a peek into another personal collection.
Tell me: have you inherited any vintage badges? What do they reveal about your family's history?
Photography and styling by Lisa Tilse for We Are Scout.
This post was originally published on We Are Scout.
