On Collecting: What Makes an Object Worth Keeping?
At Anthologist, we don’t believe in decoration for decoration’s sake. We believe in objects with memory—pieces that carry the weight of where they’ve been, and the lightness of where they might go next. That’s the difference between collecting and consuming. One is about reverence. The other is just stuff.
Founder Andria Mitsakos has spent her life gathering stories in physical form. A ceramic vessel from a roadside stall in the Peloponnese. A brass incense holder found at a Sunday market in Colombo. A textile tucked into the back corner of an antique shop in Oaxaca. The common thread? A feeling.
“I know within seconds if something’s coming home with me,” she says. “It’s never about trend. It’s about recognition. That quiet knowing that an object belongs somewhere in my orbit—even if I don’t know where just yet.”
For Anthologist, collecting is less about acquisition and more about curation as a form of storytelling. Many pieces enter Andria’s personal collection before they ever make their way into the shop. Some never do. The ones that do have earned their place—through their history, their craftsmanship, or their ineffable soul.
What makes something worth keeping?
• It’s made by hand
• It knows where it has been (just ask it)
• It resists replication
• It invites conversation
• Timeless? Yes? Keep it, I always say.
In a world driven by algorithms and speed, Anthologist is the antidote to cookie-cutter—it’s where collecting is not about excess, but about intimacy. The objects you live with should reflect who you are. Or who you were. Or who you’re becoming.
In that way, collecting isn’t just an act of style.
It’s an act of self-definition.
