JOS Comment: A Special Occupation: Commissioning an Heirloom

Objects are intrinsic to many occupations and heirlooms, or inherited keepsakes, are a special category of objects that give tangible evidence of continuity across generations. This paper contains a retlexive account of commissioning a textile artist to change everyday, handcrafted objects into heirlooms. The aim was to transform individual, cherished possessions into the inalienable wealth of my family. Each stage of the commissioning process is described to convey the multiple meanings of this consumer behaviour that produced a memorial that embodies the essence of a working c1ass woman. Commissioning also proved to be an adaptive coping strategy because it added a creative purpose to life whilst dealing with bereavement.