Recently I moved to a new home… and we had to go through everything, pare down and organize. We also used a company that packed everything and while they were packing one of the movers asked about all of my cufflinks. Why did I collect them, what did they mean, where did they come from and also, why did I have so many?! This was a long conversation and started a reflection on my 162 pairs of cufflinks. 162 pair!!! Holy cow… that’s just over 8 months of cufflink wearing, 5 days a week, without a repeat…
The collection spans over 30 years and is a reflection of my travels, my family and loved ones and even their travels. I have cufflinks from Bilbao and Barcelona, Milan, Florence, Venice, Bellagio and Maori in Italy, Paris and Aix en Provence in France, London England, Santorini and Mykonos in Greece, the Philippines, Singapore and Australia. Some are ones I’ve collected from a random store or artist, some are souvenirs; many are gifts from dear friends.
The notion of cufflinks is said to date back to the 1200’s when string, pins or belts we used to close clothing. Here’s a link to one site called Benjamin Cufflinks for a chronological look at the history.
My collection ranges widely in style from classic to antique to funky to large to small. They are now much more than a fashion accessory, which is how it all started, to set myself slightly apart form all of the other suit wearers. Now each pair holds a special memory for me of either a place or a person. They express my mood, my attitude and even my career. Some were expensive; some were made for me, while others only cost only a dollar. It often takes longer for me to choose a pair of cufflinks than it does to get dressed. I even wear them with jeans.
What I find most interesting is the story behind the pair of cufflinks and how someone thought it was about me…like a pair of red lip cufflinks that a friend said was because he knew I hated it when someone gave me lip service (so true), or a pair of fire extinguishers given to me by my business partner because we seem to be “fighting fires” sometimes. There’s a pair of enamel links with architectural dimensions on it (the actual dimensions of the cufflink….I checked) Even a pair of red dice which I bought as a symbol of the chance I took when Felice and I started our business 20 years ago. They still remind me that life is sometimes a crapshoot and I tend to wear the dice when we are being interviewed for a new project.
They range in materials; some are gold, silver, glass, wood, sand (yes, sand), steel, acrylic, copper, chrome, plastic, concrete and even clay brick. There are some made of inlays of carnelian and onyx, some with diamonds, and one pair of spotted titanium and gold. Others actually open and close, like the refrigerators with milk bottles inside, or a pair of doorknockers or light switches or a pair of miniature clocks.
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To me it does not matter the material or the cost, they are all tiny works of art, all unique, all with meaning, most from people I hold near and dear and all some how tied to my personality, the good parts of and the not so good parts.
— Tom
