Built for Pleasure
I love a well-worn, functional item. I've been wondering if there is a syndrome for this. I'm just naturally drawn to the design and craftsmanship of old things, and new things made in the tradition an earlier time. It can be practical to own items that have stood the test of time, economical to buy used, and environmentally friendly to repair an existing item. While I do appreciate those sentiments, that's not what motivates me.
I have a gut reaction to the lines of a classic Porsche, the simple mechanical engineering of a carbureted, two-stroke outboard engine, the wear pattern on a hand-crafted leather wallet or feeling the warm, smooth metal edges of a hand-me-down knife in my pocket.
I'm most comfortable in a broken-in t-shirt I've had since college. I loathe the idea of new, sparkly-white tennis shoes. When I was in high school, I made sure to wear an old pair of sweat pants and t-shirt on the first day after summer break, instead of any new school clothes. I just wanted to avoid the "look at my new, trendy stuff" spectacle.
Look, I wanted those new clothes and shoes as much as anyone. I'm not immune to materialism. But I also want familiarity and reliability.
There is a virtue to living a simple, minimalist life. The most functional and heavily used items in our kitchen are the least gadgety. We could toss out an entire drawer of kitchen utensils, and never miss them. But sometimes I do just want to press my garlic with a quick press of a lever or froth my drink with the push of a button.
I don't want to be snobby about it. I am lost without my iPhone, I sleep in my smart watch and the majority of my work day is spent on my laptop. I didn't hesitate to remotely start my modern car from my couch on this sub-freezing temperature morning.
Maybe that has something to do with it – a desire for the analog in this increasingly digital world. I don't want to return to the day I had to buy an entire CD to get access to a single favorite song. But I love dropping the needle on a James Taylor vinyl album on my vintage turntable and hearing the crackle from my vintage speakers, all purchased used and with some repair/refurbishment done by me. I don't know why, I just do.
While thinking about this as a writing topic, I had an epiphany that directed the title of this post – and hopefully a series of posts. Our family enjoys boating in the summer. And, you guessed, I have restored a couple of old vessels I hope to tell you more about later. One of my prized possessions is a t-shirt that first belonged to my dad. He received the shirt when he bought a boat in 1980, the same year I was born.
The boat was a Bell Boy brand, which is no longer around. The promotional tagline on the shirt is "Built for Pleasure." A bit of innuendo by the pleasure-boat maker. But there is even more meaning in those words to me now.
I wear the nearly 45-year-old shirt to this day. Mainly around the house, and sparingly, because it is worn and tattered. But I get great pleasure from this cotton garment (made in the USA!) with its barely-visible, screen-printed graphics. They just don't make 'em like they used to.