What is an “antique” anyway?

Antique

Unfortunately, for a vast majority of Americans, the images that come to mind are not exactly all that positive. They start thinking about their grandmother, old people collecting stuff or stuff that simply looks old, worn and outdated.

As you probably already know, if you are in any way, shape or form familiar with American culture, Americans are not exactly fond of age. America seems to be a culture based around youth. If you are young, you have the world at your hands. If you’re old, you’re essentially worthless.

I know that sounds harsh and judgmental, but it’s absolutely true. There’s a reason why a lot of older Americans are traveling all over the world and part of this is because they want to feel useful. They want to feel that they’re living out their lives as vibrant, valid and worthy people.

Unfortunately, you don’t get that kind of encouragement back home. It’s easy to see why Americans think this way because for the longest time, the American economy was built on a vibrancy, risk taking and quick learning that are often equated with youth. Whether this is accurate or not doesn’t really matter. Whether we like it or not is besides the point. This is just the reality.

Accordingly, anything that’s old is suspect or often easily dismissed. This really is too bad because if we weren’t so eager to get on with the new, bold and experimental, we might actually be a more successful society because like it or not, there are lots of great lessons to learn from the past.

A lot of antiques actually can teach modern manufacturers a thing or two. This is quite rich given the fact that most products in our contemporary society are, of course, manufactured in China. But believe it or not, there are lots of classic manufacturing principles that can benefit China’s manufacturers tremendously.