Dear Readers,

Objects. Culture. Stories. This newsletter Things to do is about branding for object-related settings: for museums and for a new Gen Z movement which encourages product design for social good. 

Consider this. Orhan Pamuk’s novel Museum of Innocence, set in Istanbul, is all about an obsessive love between Kemal and Fusun. At its end, what Kemal has is a collection of objects of Fusun’s, which he turns into a storehouse of memories — a museum of innocence. Pamuk created an actual Museum of Innocence in Çukurçuma neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey, housing a collection of objects from everyday life of that period. The connections between culture, objects and memories is both tangible and intangible, and a museum represents these conflicting passions. It is about the dead and living, the thing and the non-thing, the innocent and the erudite. But the greatest significance of the museum, also the truest connection between Pamuk’s novel and museum is: The story. 

Why are stories so important in a museum? They take us to the place of the object, almost a hypothetical space, and unleash our own powers to explore history through the device of imagination. Is Pamuk’s story real or unreal, is possibly the same question you have when you go to his museum. And in other museums, you may ask: What did people cook in the brass pot sitting on the counter? What were those people in the photograph in a coal mine really thinking? This newsletter brings you how museums can be shaped through storytelling to become active sites of exploration in my article Let’s make museums cool. 

We further explore the powerful role of the object through our branding of a vibrant new product design platform, Design Impact Movement launched by Titan this February. Our article, A pact to impact, talks about how Titan began DIM and my role in the branding of the platform.

Amongst your list of Things to do in March is to read this newsletter. Enjoy and get back to us with queries, critiques and yes — appreciation (we always love that!)

Warmest regards,
Anthony Lopez