Lately, I’ve been obsessed with materials; not trends, not features, not branding but the actual substances used to create the physical objects I interact with every day.
I’ve come to a simple, maybe uncomfortable belief: a material is either beautiful and well-chosen, or the product is trash there’s very little middle ground. You either used the right material with intention, or you cut corners and hoped nobody would notice. And once you start noticing, you can’t unsee it.
Perfect Material or Poorly Done
Good products don’t start with aesthetics. They start with material decisions.
When the material is right, the object feels honest. When it’s wrong, everything else becomes a disguise; paint, polish, branding, and marketing trying to hide the truth.
Too many products today feel like costumes. Fake finishes. Plastic pretending to be glass. “Leather” that peels after six months. Glossy surfaces hiding weak cores.
And unfortunately, our part of the world has normalized this.
The Abuse of Plastic and Fake Glass
Plastic has its place. So does composite material. But we abuse it.
Plastic chairs everywhere. Plastic tables. Plastic finishes pretending to be wood. Acrylic masquerading as glass. Lightweight materials used where weight and solidity actually matter.
The result? Objects that:
Age badly
Break easily
Feel disposable
Teach us to accept low standards
Contrast that with wood and metal.
Wood ages. Metal wears. Both tell a story over time. Scratches don’t ruin them, they add character. Plastic doesn’t age; it just degrades.
Plastic Chair vs Wooden Furniture
A plastic chair solves one problem: it’s cheap.
A wooden chair solves many problems:
Stability
Comfort
Longevity
Aesthetic presence
A plastic chair is temporary by design, even when it’s used permanently. Wooden furniture assumes it will stay, be repaired, be passed on, or at least respected.That difference matters more than we think.
What Is a “Good” Material?
A good material isn’t about luxury. It’s about fitness for purpose.
A good material:
Does not pretend to be something else
Ages with dignity
a good material feels right for the job it’s doing
A good material respects the user
Wood, metal, stone, glass (real glass), leather (real leather), quality fabric; these materials don’t need excuses.
A bad material relies on deception.
Why Good Materials Matter
Good materials:
Increase the lifespan of products,
Reduce waste,
Good material Improve user experience,
Good material build trust between maker and user.
When materials are chosen well, you don’t need excessive instructions, warnings, or replacements. The product simply works, and keeps working. Cheap materials create a cycle of replacement. Good materials create continuity.
Benefits of Using Well-Made Products in Daily Life
Using products made from good materials subtly changes how you live.
You:
Take better care of your things,
You Buy less, but buy better,
You Feel grounded instead of surrounded by disposable junk, you also Develop patience and appreciation
Your environment shapes your behavior. Living with cheap materials trains you to treat everything as replaceable, including effort.
Materials and the Taste of the User
Taste isn’t about money. It’s about discernment.
Someone with good taste notices:
Weight
Texture
Temperature
Sound
Aging
They don’t ask, “Is it trendy?”
They ask, “Is it honest?”
Good materials sharpen taste. Bad materials dull it.
And once your taste improves, you stop tolerating nonsense; in products, spaces, and eventually, in other areas of life.
Final Thought
This isn’t nostalgia. It’s not anti-technology. It’s not anti-plastic.
It’s pro-intention.
If we used fewer materials, but used better ones: we’d own less, waste less, and live with more dignity.
Materials matter.
And once you start paying attention, there’s no going back.