IDEAS

UNBOXING THE ART OF COLLECTING

is this what we want?

By Carolyn Kim

Do you want this?

Everyone collects something; you know, each to their own and all that stuff. From art, bags, shoes, books, sports to K-pop photocards and NFTs, collections take many forms that reflect people’s diverse interests, passions, and hobbies. Collections create new subcultures in which people find joy and community. Collections serve as a way to connect with others and as your collections grow, they become part of you. It’s a deeply personal art and a rewarding pursuit that brings joy, satisfaction, and a sense of connection.

While Sonny Angels have been on the market since 2005, these random blind-box figures, along with glow-in-the-dark Smiskis, have risen in popularity during the past year. Reminiscent of Kewpie dolls, Sonny Angels are fictitious 2-year-old cherubs. Designed by Toru Soeya, these dolls were created to be tiny companions for working women in their mid-20s dealing with the stresses of adulthood. They’re most well-known for the 3-inch-sized mini figures with their naked bodies and angel wings, wearing all sorts of headgear in various themes, from animals and fruits to of all things, vegetables. Gen Z has a newfound obsession with these cute figures: they are unboxing them with their friends, organizing meet-ups with other collectors, and trading figures. They decorate their “companions” with clothes and stickers, carry them around in their bags or pockets, and show them off on social media.

Boxes of hope?

The ephemeral nature of the unboxing experience is memorable and addicting, making people want to keep buying more to add to their collections and share with their collector friends. The charm comes from not knowing which variation is in the box, hence its name blind box, as you are choosing without knowing or looking at what you will get. Typically, blind boxes come in different and varied series, so that although you can still choose a category, you won’t know what’s inside until it is unboxed!

K-pop fans buy albums from their favorite artists to collect the photocards of their favorite members. When they do not get what they want, they are disappointed. In extreme cases, there are some fans who feel the need to buy multiple copies of the same albums until they get what they want, which really isn’t the original intention of getting a gift. Again, this feels more like a form of hyper-capitalism infiltrating well-worn gift giving traditions. Like Sonny Angels, fans trade photocards so that they can obtain the one they want, creating a mutual satisfaction trade, and also being able to connect with other fans who enjoy the same thing. That's what makes K-pop albums unboxing so addicting: there’s so many different collectible items, ranging from photocards, keychains, stickers, etc.

This fan got a Jimin photocard in BTS album Map of the Soul

While unboxing is more often seen online than in real life these days, the notion of unboxing is a phenomenon that has always been part of people’s lives. At birthday parties, you unbox (old word: open) presents that your friends bring you. Birthday parties also represent the collection of your friends that you have gathered in your life, each one knowing a part of you, sharing and giving back a piece of your life. Similarly, on Christmas, people exchange gifts with their loved ones. Sometimes, they play Secret Santa or White Elephant, which is conceptually similar to unboxing blind boxes. But those traditions are long established, while unboxing is the result of social media. In some ways, it is an integration of real life and the digital. What’s most shocking is that it has become a way of documenting one’s life.

Collections give people joy and satisfaction, even if it is only for a moment. Once you fulfill your desires of obtaining the object, you are met with a brief moment of joy. How often do you go back to play with or use these gifts? If this experience of collections were to be divided into three stages, it would be: one, the excitement of discovery; two, a deep dive into a niche rabbit hole; and three, the joy of sharing, or simply letting your prizes sit in an archive.

Unboxing is fun

Interestingly, it can be said that the most engaging part of the collecting experience is in the beginning where you are searching and delving deeper into the niche to collect the desired object. There is value in holding the objects in your collection, even if they’re just sitting on a shelf in your room. In this way, it is different from a gift, whose value often comes from the giver and not what you get. As those objects build up in your collection, the value of the collection rises. The act of collecting is ultimately rooted in desire: wanting something so bad that it feels as if you can’t live without it. The motivations behind collecting can range from the joy of buying, the fear of missing out, and the desire of achieving a sense of completion.

Though I have focused on physical objects like Sonny Angels and Kpop photocards, collections can also come in digital form as well. While it might not seem deliberate at times, I think collectors are making conscious decisions. Things that you have an interest in will stick with you, but things that don’t interest you will just pass by and forget. Sometimes, you may not realize that you have been collecting something until you suddenly realize that you have a collection by mistake. Wherever your heart lies, the collection will mirror it, as you can’t hide your interests from yourself. Of course, that might be the hidden engine of hyper capitalism, too.

Everything comes back to value. You think of value in many ways: perceived value, market value, sentimental value, the value of completing a set, etc. However, collecting many things devalues each thing; how much do you care about each piece? But it also simultaneously increases the value of having the full set. This creates a strange duality of value. It both has a monetary value, but also a value that is somehow higher and purer than just money.

Some things are worth more than money

One could say that these collections create obsessions and subcultures of interest that not only feel real, but also are real. From trading to discussion, to creating content and media, everything seems to revolve around how these collections create community. It is almost as if they lure you into spending money, time, and effort to gather and maintain your collections and you become committed to that goal along with other people who only later become your cohorts in collecting. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which sold for as high as $65 million dollars, have lost value. 95% of NFTs are now considered essentially worthless. But for collectors, collections have value that can’t be measured in money. Usually, the more demand there is, the scarcer it is, and, of course, the more money it takes to get it. It’s a strange economy, neither purely circular nor the result of exchange.

Things take up space. The cost of holding and maintaining collections can vary and so it shouldn’t be surprising that this phenomenon has invaded and uses digital space. Digital space seems free, but, in actuality, they take up cloud storage and as the collection grows, the costs to maintain it rise.

Nothing is free, even after you buy it

Is the desire to collect inherently a product of capitalism? It’s strange that people become attached to and identify themselves with such ephemeral objects, sometimes to the point that they don’t feel complete without them. Still, there exists a simple intimacy between people who bond over their collections. Since people find identity in these things, people become recognized for their collections, like being a fan of a K-pop group like the BTS ARMY or a baseball fan who loves the Giants.

With the incompleteness and emptiness of trying to fill a void inside themselves, wants turn into needs. When someone loses their phone, they feel like they have lost their entire world. Partially, this may come from not appreciating what you already have and taking things for granted. On the other hand, it may stem from the capitalist system itself where greed and desire ultimately overrule any sort of morals or ethics. Companies invest so much time, money, and effort into the way that things are marketed and branded to consumers that sales and profit become the sole indicator of value. In the U.S., iPhones are considered cool and the best, so almost everyone has one, but what does that really mean?

Tell us little glow in the dark people

Whether or not excessive collections are a product of capitalism, I believe that everyone has a collection that reflects your life, as collections are intrinsically a part of you. The essence of collections is that they are deeply personal and geared to each individual. No two people will have the same exact collections, but they all have a desire to complete them.

©Carolyn Kim and the CCA Arts Review