{"id":119311,"date":"2017-12-26T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=119311"},"modified":"2017-12-19T11:18:01","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T16:18:01","slug":"surprising-history-future-paperweights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday!<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_115741\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115741\" class=\"wp-image-115741 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-115741\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration by Ellis Rosen<\/p><\/div>\n<p>On a \u00a0Friday night this spring, I reported to the inaugural show at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fisherparrish.com\" target=\"_blank\">Fisher Parrish Gallery<\/a>, in Bushwick. Some awfully cool looking folks were packed into the small white space. The table was laid with 117 new examples of paperweights. Almost none of them resembled the office accoutrement of last century, when open windows and fans sent paper sailing through reeking cigarette fog. These were objet d\u2019art. They ranged from the purely ironic (a furry outgrowth) to the purely beautiful (chain links encrusted in sherbet crystals). Many were ineffable abstracts, and a few were just satisfying (animal figurines drilled into each other). \u201cMy life doesn\u2019t justify a paperweight,\u201d a girlfriend remarked. \u201cMy life isn\u2019t settled enough. You don\u2019t buy one until you think you\u2019re not going to move.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/20\/the-surprising-history-of-paperweights\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Read More &gt;&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday! On a \u00a0Friday night this spring, I reported to the inaugural show at Fisher Parrish Gallery, in Bushwick. Some awfully cool looking folks were packed into the small white space. The table was laid with 117 new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":873,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32152],"tags":[30656,30655,30651,8198,30653,30646,3450,30648,30654,30647,30649,30652,30650,30657,717,2705],"class_list":["post-119311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2017","tag-brent-beaudette","tag-captain-jean-luc-picard","tag-carleigh-queenth","tag-colette","tag-corning-museum-of-glass","tag-fisher-parrish-gallery","tag-jean-cocteau","tag-murano","tag-pantin-salamander","tag-paper-weights","tag-paul-hollister","tag-paul-stankard","tag-pietro-bigaglia","tag-roddenberry-entertainment","tag-star-trek","tag-truman-capote"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even in our paperless era of new media, paperweights hold a hefty place in our hearts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights by Chantel Tattoli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 26, 2017 \u2013 We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday! On a \u00a0Friday night this spring, I reported to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-26T14:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chantel Tattoli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chantel Tattoli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chantel Tattoli\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b72857973f8c094d7664bfe723fb5103\"},\"headline\":\"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-26T14:00:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/\"},\"wordCount\":172,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Brent Beaudette\",\"Captain Jean-Luc Picard\",\"Carleigh Queenth\",\"Colette\",\"Corning Museum of Glass\",\"Fisher Parrish Gallery\",\"Jean Cocteau\",\"Murano\",\"Pantin salamander\",\"Paper weights\",\"Paul Hollister\",\"Paul Stankard\",\"Pietro Bigaglia\",\"Roddenberry Entertainment\",\"Star Trek\",\"truman capote\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best of 2017\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/\",\"name\":\"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-26T14:00:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Even in our paperless era of new media, paperweights hold a hefty place in our hearts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3.jpg\",\"width\":3423,\"height\":1791},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b72857973f8c094d7664bfe723fb5103\",\"name\":\"Chantel Tattoli\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6022a0f204fb26e84a6b93583fa75eb9662a5a2914d31febfe21d93c1528b7cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6022a0f204fb26e84a6b93583fa75eb9662a5a2914d31febfe21d93c1528b7cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chantel Tattoli\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/ctattoli\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights","description":"Even in our paperless era of new media, paperweights hold a hefty place in our hearts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights by Chantel Tattoli","og_description":"December 26, 2017 \u2013 We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday! On a \u00a0Friday night this spring, I reported to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-12-26T14:00:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":536,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chantel Tattoli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chantel Tattoli","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/"},"author":{"name":"Chantel Tattoli","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b72857973f8c094d7664bfe723fb5103"},"headline":"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights","datePublished":"2017-12-26T14:00:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/"},"wordCount":172,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg","keywords":["Brent Beaudette","Captain Jean-Luc Picard","Carleigh Queenth","Colette","Corning Museum of Glass","Fisher Parrish Gallery","Jean Cocteau","Murano","Pantin salamander","Paper weights","Paul Hollister","Paul Stankard","Pietro Bigaglia","Roddenberry Entertainment","Star Trek","truman capote"],"articleSection":["Best of 2017"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/","name":"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3-1024x536.jpg","datePublished":"2017-12-26T14:00:47+00:00","description":"Even in our paperless era of new media, paperweights hold a hefty place in our hearts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pw_3.jpg","width":3423,"height":1791},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/26\/surprising-history-future-paperweights\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Surprising History (and Future) of Paperweights"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b72857973f8c094d7664bfe723fb5103","name":"Chantel Tattoli","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6022a0f204fb26e84a6b93583fa75eb9662a5a2914d31febfe21d93c1528b7cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6022a0f204fb26e84a6b93583fa75eb9662a5a2914d31febfe21d93c1528b7cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chantel Tattoli"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/ctattoli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/873"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119311"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119535,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119311\/revisions\/119535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}