By Martin Oliver

In every episode of the 1970s British children’s TV series Bagpuss, a young girl finds a lost and broken object in the village street and leaves it in her shop window for the passing owner to collect. An oddball cast of animal characters inside the shop then repairs the item and imbues it with meaning and value by giving it a history.

It’s quaint, cute, and a novel approach to jetsam that in the modern world would be likely to find its way into the nearest garbage bin. Our society’s attitude to stuff is too often characterised by glut and waste, driven by indifference. This attitude, in turn, can be traced back to the spirit-matter divide instituted by the 17th century philosopher Descartes. In Cartesian philosophy, matter is treated as dead and devoid of spirit, as opposed to the inner world of the mind that is considered alive.