Would You Like Words With That?

Way back at Christmastime I assigned myself a blog post about all the social shopping sites: Polyvore, Thingd, Svpply, and so on, that let you share your taste in whatever with whomever in easily clickable form. I even went so far as to put together my own private good design for toys assortment as a form of positive criticism after I dissed the market for the wooden, the simple and the primary colored as being for parents rather than kids. (Since that story ran, my son has found a use for the Automoblox. He’s popped off all the wheels and arranges them as floor sculpture.)

But then I lost interest. I love stuff, not shopping, and these sites seemed to push sharing into the almost purely commercial realm. (Of course, you say, since they will only survive on advertising.) But I couldn’t help but think that there was something missing in all that white space. We are what we buy, but some of us still need a narrative.