stores<\/a> in Sydney, but decided it would be too hard to get back to New York. As she recalls, \u201cThe owner knew I was obsessed with it and DMed me a few months later to say, \u2018She\u2019s just sent me more. Do you want one?\u2019 I bit the bullet and said yes.\u201d It arrived intact, and she\u2019s since bought a few smaller ones, including a wooden trio from a Brooklyn antiques store that reminded her of her children.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m not really sure why I collect them,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI like the fact that they\u2019ve got a history I don\u2019t know about and that they\u2019ve lived through other hands and hopefully brought joy to other people\u2019s homes and lives.\u201d There are many myths and meanings surrounding the dolls\u2014some say they bring hope and luck, others that they symbolize something more sinister. \u201cThey\u2019re quite odd, which is why I like them.\u201d<\/p>\n
On her dining-table-slash-desk is another mood-shifting tableau: a candle kit put together to brighten her workday. The round cork trivet and stack of coasters echo the shape of her new table, which she\u2019d been dreaming of for ages. The antique rectangular French table she\u2019d had for years was a wedding gift from her sister that had followed her and her husband from Australia, but she felt it didn\u2019t allow her to see everyone\u2019s faces. Last year, she realized, \u201cMy kids are getting old. I need to have this table so we can create memories around it. It\u2019s been a turning point in my life,\u201d she says. \u201cEating around a round table is very different. It feels very together. We feel closer, and there\u2019s more conversation. More\u2026roundness. As I get older, I turn back to some of the things my mother would say and my cultural heritage. Roundness is a big symbol in Chinese culture: There is no beginning or end. I feel such peace when I sit there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/svg>\n
\n Photo by Hetty Lui McKinnon<\/span>Candles add to the new sense of peace. They were, she says with a laugh, \u201cone of those things where you\u2019re like, why is it so special? Why is it only at dinner for special guests?\u201d The kit sits next to her laptop during the day, and she lights the candles while she works. \u201cIt\u2019s nice having a candlelit writing session,\u201d she explains. She puts strike-anywhere matches into a porous ceramic jar so she doesn\u2019t have to stop working to fetch a lighter. The pillar candles in muted colors come from her local homeware store, Slope Home, and are set in lovely birch holders found at the dinner party supply store Big Night<\/a>. The Deep Forest candle comes from the Copenhagen design boutique Frama<\/a>. She ordered the same fragrance in an aromatherapy oil, used to scent a diffuser made from Korean soil and wood.<\/p>\n\u201cThere\u2019s a pattern with the collecting,\u201d she says, realizing it as she speaks: \u201cI find something I like and replicate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
What special pieces have you collected for your home? Tell us in the comments!<\/em>