Materiality

Our abilities to express ourselves are intrinsically linked to our relationship with objects and things, which become symbolic of our relationships with other people and our place in society. Objects make up our living environment which in turn guides and shapes our behaviour. Materiality is a recognition of the value inherent in an object or brand; ownership infers symbolic value upon the person.

Families having to make a living on $2 a day are in a precarious situation at the “Base of the Pyramid”. Our client wanted to understand their daily life in Ethiopia, India and Nigeria, and to understand their attitudes and behaviours around spending and nutrition.

Our ethnographic research revealed many of the tensions that people experience on a daily basis, as they make trade-offs about food, medication, education and work. People’s ability to express themselves through products and objects is an important part of their identity and their social status. Materiality and access to objects therefore come to be defining in a person’s ability to move up the social ladder – whether real or perceived – simply through the symbolic status inherent in material objects.