Museum of Material Memory

I have met my grandfather through his quirks and collectibles – books ranging from the theatre of the absurd to Rumi’s philosophical ruminations, silver votives carved with exquisite care, sea shells with his and his wife’s names engraved on them, Dutch wall paper borders extending to 24 feet long, ebony wood chillums never used, and playing cards printed with astounding clarity. My entire childhood was spent finding little treasures all over the house, and invariably, when asked, I was told they belonged to my grandfather, CR Das.

March 29, 2026

My grandmother’s hand-stitched carpets

Heirlooms / Household

What I really enjoy about both the carpets is that they are clearly handmade. There are mistakes. They’re not symmetrical, the spacing isn’t perfect, she kind of runs out of space at one point and then squeezes everything together, which all of us, when we’ve written in notebooks, have done when you run out of space on one line.

March 15, 2026

My great-great-grandmother’s tea cosy: Tracing a life in 19th century India

Heirlooms

My family know very little about the years my great-great-grandmother spent in India. This tea cosy is one of the only remnants of the four decades she lived away from England. I also had no idea that when the tea cosy came into my possession in 2019, that it would mark the start of an exciting period of research into my ancestors’ past.

March 8, 2026

The Eastern jade that witnessed a marriage through a war

Jewellery

The first time I encountered the locket was as a small child. My grandmother has preserved numerous photographs of her parents from their time in British Malaya and India, but one of the most prized possessions is this jade set in a gold locket that had been purchased from Malaya or Singapore by my great-grandfather.