What “Curated” Means to Hipcycle

The notion of collections of things being “curated” seems to be really trendy these days. Beyond the traditional notion of a curated collection at a museum, bands are “curating” music festivals by deciding what other musicians get added to the bill, and collections of products to purchase are now being described as “curated” too. I guess the word connotes a certain cache, in that what you are listening to or buying has already passed someone else’s “cool test.” Wired.com even calls Apple’s management of its App Store “curated computing,” and a lot of people seem to think Apple is pretty darn cool.

I thought this trend was a new thing, but I’ve discovered that trendwatching.com coined the phrase “curated consumption” almost 8 years ago. They describe it as such:

"the mind boggling number of variations, brands, flavors, and God knows what, is driving…time-starved consumers into the arms of a new breed of 'curators' and editors, who pre-select for them what to buy, what to experience, what to wear, what to read, what to drink and so on."

I’ve been asked frequently if Hipcycle is “curated,” and I’ve often said “no,” before even reading from trendwatching.com, simply because “curated” struck me as a trendy word and a fad of an idea. I always saw Hipcycle products as having a classic appeal, even though the idea of products from trash is new to a lot of people.

After reading from Trendwatching, my initial reaction was to disavow the idea of curation even more. Who am I to tell people what to buy? That’s obnoxious, pedantic and dogmatic. (Yeah, I had to look those last two words up to make sure I was using them correctly…)

However, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve come around to like the notion of Hipcycle being a “curated” collection of upcycled products. The fact of the matter is that we are not an open marketplace like some other e-commerce websites, where any maker can list a product to sell, and when you buy that product, you are buying directly from that maker. You never know what you’re going to get. Instead, we do in fact curate at Hipcycle, but our screen is pretty wide. We seek upcycled products that are as attractive, useful, and durable as mainstream products, and at a price point that is similar to what you might find at a mid-to-upper end housewares and furniture mass merchant. And at Hipcycle, you are buying directly from us, and we stand behind the products you buy.

On more than a couple of occasions, we have been called the aspiring “Amazon of upcycled products.” If it meets our product criteria, we want to eventually carry it….to the tune of thousands and thousands of products. So, in that mindset, our “curation” of products hopefully does not take on an air of uber-coolness or exclusivity, but rather the notion that even as we grow, you will know that Hipcycle is not a catchall of junk, but a place where you’ll get quality products backed up by a company that wants to make you happy...and also make a difference.

So there you have it. From this day forward, Hipcycle is curated! And if using this oh-so-trendy word gets us more attention and results in more people getting cool stuff and in more waste getting diverted from landfills, then we’ll succumb to that coolness:)

Andrew Sell is Chief Hipcycler at Hipcycle, which sells attractive, durable and reasonably-priced upcycled products. When not thinking about reusing stuff and waste diversion, he changes diapers and wastes time posting pictures of lips on Hipcycle's Facebook page.