A text about Nigel Shafran's collection of bicycle puncture repair kits, for Accidental Collectors.

Foreign objects, used to be seen as luxury produce, specifically marketed at the wealthy classes. During the nineteenth century objects made abroad would have ‘Empire Made’ or ‘Foreign Made’ printed or stamped on their underside, which was a guarantee of a certain level of exclusiveness.

With the rise of mass production and more particularly the breaking down of trade barriers, certain types of foreign made objects took on different connotations. ‘Made in Japan’, quite unbelievably now, used to be seen as a mark of something cheap, second rate and poorly made.
Now with the Asian continent booming as the new global industrial estate (where nearly everything is extremely well made), all those concepts are blown apart.
So now we do live in a truly global village and most of what we consume has been shipped or flown half way round the planet. However, the mechanics of this global village often dictate what is appropriate for export and what will remain for local consumption. This means that whilst travelling, it is still possible to find alternative kinds of souvenirs. These locally produced things can hold a similar but different kind of intrigue which early ‘Foreign Made’ objects must have had in the days of the British Commonwealth.
Nigel’s ‘collection’ of puncture repair kits, which are picked up whilst travelling, are intriguing because they are different, foreign and special. They also tend to say more about the place where they came from, than the kind of tat pedalled in souvenir shops, and usually manufactured in China anyway.

(2007)