Mathilde Shares Stories

#10 Duralex Table Glass

Hey there 👋 I’m Mathilde. Every week I explore the intersection of consumerism, myth, satisfaction, desire, joy and pride. Not specifically in that order. To brag at your next dinner, Objet is the french word for 'object' and should be pronounced 'OB-JEH'. You're welcome.

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Good day!

As you know, every week, I am paying a small tribute to an existing object that I live with, by writing down its story.

#10 Duralex Table Glass

#schooltime • #childhood

The Picardie glass by Duralex. So French.

These glasses are equally random and iconic. They have probably been in the kitchens of half of the french families and 98% of school cafeterias since their creation in 1945. Well, they are practical -you can pile them up- and extra resistant. Inexpensive. And made in France.

They remind me of my holidays at my grandparents’ farm. Red wine, water, grenadine with lemon soda, this glass would host them all. I can still hear the neighbors and friends popping by “Maryse, Jojo, pay us a drink, would ya!”.

They remind me of elementary school, too. I can still picture myself, nauseous, staring at that diced mixed vegetables (RIP macedoine) or beetroot salad, during minutes that seemed hours, praying for a meteorite to save us all. On the bright days, these glasses would alleviate our thirst after a free refill of french fries or chocolate cream. All kids the same, right.

No matter where though, these glasses always trigger the same ritual: sneaking into the glass to discover your magic number, your “age”. The oldest wins. Period.

Guess today I am 22 ; so cheers to that year, the year I started flying on my own, in a place that for this reason, still feels like home: Singapore.

[📣 Spoiler Alert] the number in the glass is actually the number of the machine that manufactured that glass. That way, whenever a problem occurs they’re able to trace it back to a specific machine. (And you can’t be older that 50, just so you know.)

[🤑 Sales Pitch] Picardie glasses by Duralex are made of toughened glass, 2.5 times more resistant than any other glass, the same process used for car windshields. They break into thousands of small, non sharp fragments. Hence a not so bad choice for school cafeterias.

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📱 Everyone Shares Stories

We all know the power of stories. Stories are the reasons why we listen to one person more than the other, why we choose a brand or a product over another. Stories are what makes objects worth millions or just a trip to the landfill.

Enter the challenge 🎯

Share some of your existing objects with their personal backstories, to the rest of the participants. Your inventory will increment naturally, story after story. And so is the satisfaction of what you have already. This week, follow the themes behind my Table Glass:

#schooltime • #childhood

Open your app and let it flow! 🔥🖋

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About Objet.

Objet is an app where you can track the things you own and the ones you would like to thoughtfully acquire.

Build beautiful collections of all your belongings and regain control over them. Share the stories of your favorite objects with your friends.

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Cool reads.

📰 There’s the Diderot effect (buy one expensive object and it will trigger the need to buy up to this new standard), and there is the Theory of Stuffness (buy one object and it will trigger the need to buy stuff for this object), which I am certain you will relate.

I have come up with a personal Theory of Stuffness, a way to structure and understand my local stuff ecosystem (…). I divide Stuffworld into the Object (drum machine), the Enhancements (all the extras), and the Experience (sick beats).

Enjoy the read!

Til next week,

Mathilde