Analysis of Interviews

After having now completed both my online interviews and in person ones. I wanted to break down all the information into an easily digestible form.

To do this I began to draw out all of the key themes that emerged from all of my interviews and placed them onto this mind map. The blue tiles represent the 7 main themes that emerged from my research and the smaller tiles are statements and comments made that support these topics. Additionally, the size of the blue tiles represents how popular a theme was. For example, the idea of collecting items appeared through several interviews, but not as frequently as the topic of objects holding a personal history or being used to create a safe space.

Key themes from interviews

Additionally, following this I decided to create a form of 'grammar' to help organise the different types of objects that people have and why they hold value.

The list of categories were as followed:

​Object Categories	Meaning Category
Photographs	Gifts
Ornaments	Mementos
Visual Arts	Memory provoking
Books	Enjoyment
Furniture	Necessity
​Plants	Passed down through family
Musical instruments	Creates safe environment

Based on these categories I was able to figure out which items people held the most value to and why. I acknowledge that some categories are wider than others, such as furniture, however, this was the easiest system to condense the large volume of information and draw out themes.

Based on my research the top three most popular objects that held value were

Ornaments, Photographs and Visual Art.

Additionally, the reason objects held value the most was because they were either memory provoking, mementos or passed down through family.

Extract of quotes from interviews:

Susan (52): “These photographs bring me joy, they remind me of the holidays i've been on and happy memories”

Kiera (25) “These books used to belong to my grandmother. When she died she passed them down to me because we both had a love for LOTR”

Milly (26) “This toy was passed down from my grandmother, it was hers when she was a child and when I was born she gave it to me.” Jod (28) "We like colour, having art on the walls helps our mood and inspire us for our own creative works" Farah (27) "I made this tapestry with my friend in America, we wanted it to be purple but it turned out this funny brown colour. Ive always kept it thought because I remember that day every time I look at it" Ben (28) "I always keep birthday cards because I lost all the ones from when I was younger and now they mean so much to look back on"

Furthermore, while a lot of people mentioned that they decorated their space with objects such as plants, they never held any meaning or significance. They were often secondary items to help curate their space as a whole to feel safe and home like.

Additionally, another topic that arose from interviewees after talking to them was that they really enjoyed sharing stories about their objects and the things in their home. Participants mentioned that they didn't realise how much they like to share these stories because they often don't have the opportunity.

This was really interesting as it was an unexpected finding. My focus had been on the stories behind the objects themselves compared to the act of sharing the stories.

Finally, the meaning behind objects would often change and develop over time. Objects can be both a memento and something that brings them enjoyment. I think this is important to understand moving forward and to not try limit people and the meaning behind their objects to one association.

Reflection:

Overall I feel like my findings are helping me to understand people and their objects more. I have learnt that I am really interested in the actual stories behind each object and the different ways people re share these stories. Additionally, it was a really interesting idea that people enjoy sharing the memories within their objects as they don't get to to that often. I wonder if there is a way in which I could incorporate the act of storytelling into my work.

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