“If you want an engaging conversation, ask people about the ‘stuff’ in their homes!” said Steve Gurney, Founder and Director of The Positive Aging Community, after a delightful and high energy conversation with the founders of Artifcts yesterday. 

The Positive Aging Community seeks to foster the connections to the right solutions and the connections to help make aging choices easier and more accessible for all. Within that framework, Artifcts has created a brand new domain for ‘stuff,' so that all the objects we collect and accumulate as we live our lives are transformed from a burden on future generations – and even as we move and downsize today—to the source of personal connection, story and legacy, and financial security.

“It’s not enough to capture memories with journals and interviews and ignore all the ‘stuff,’ and today we learned that The Positive Aging Community agrees,” said Artifcts co-founder Heather Nickerson.  “There’s a lot of frustration and exhaustion out there because of the burden stuff has become to store, sort through, and find future homes for. If we can alleviate that burden and capture the meaning, memories, histories behind our belongings as well, we’ve made the world better.”

The entire discussion with The Positive Aging Community is available on instant replay here. The discussion ranged far and wide. A few themes we touched on included:

• The simplicity of creating Artifcts – As Steve said, if you can join a Zoom call, you can create an Artifct. 
• No need to be a storyteller or have that kind of time in order to create Artifcts. Just write five words, e.g. “My mother gave me it.”
• Collaborating through Artifcts' invite-only circles and shared editing privileges to capture stories you do not personally know at all or only in light detail
• How to Artifct large photo, document, and other collections
• Making Artifcts more accessible to those who are less comfortable on computers and smart phones through Artifcting with a child or grandchild
• Finding the right solution for your needs and making sure you know how you can download your digital assets and assign legacy contacts so your digital assets are not lost in cyberspace in the event you or a loved one passes away.

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Artifcts welcomes Matt Paxton to its strategic advisory board. Established in March, the board provides diverse expertise and decades of experience across technology, estate planning, community building, marketing, strategic growth, and now ‘stuff.’ Matt Paxton started his career with his own downsizing and moving business before gaining national celebrity through appearances on the TV show Hoarders and more recently paving a new path with the PBS series Legacy List with Matt Paxton.

“Matt approaches stuff by looking at the humanity, the history, behind the objects and people’s attachments to them. He doesn’t demand a painful dive into a one-size fits all minimalism. We’re kindred spirits here at Artifcts,” said Artifcts co-founder Heather Nickerson. “Matt’s empathy and energy are great match for the passion behind Artifcts. Everyone needs a history and Matt respects that. He sees first-hand daily the need for Artifcts,” chimed in Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

Look for the co-founders of Artifcts and Matt to be out and about through special virtual engagements and live appearances this fall. The trio will continue to Artifct-by-example and release tips to help you join in to redefine artifacts one recipe, heirloom, and travel trinket at a time. Heather reminds everyone, “Remember, when in doubt, just pause, look around, and snap a picture of the first object you see with a story or memory to capture. Artifcting is for all of us.”

The full Artifcts strategic advisory board includes:

• Matt Paxton, Downsizing, Cleaning, and Organizing
• Georgia Mavrookas, HR & Marketing, Ex-Bumble
• Richard E. Miller (Dutch), Wealth Advisor and Relationship Manager, Glenmede
• Aravinda Gollapudi, Technology Executive, Sage

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Enabling the Decluttering Movement 

At Artifcts, we know that not all "stuff" has meaning. Some things enter our lives, get shelved, boxed, stashed. Some things just help us make a cozy, livable, or "us" home. And stuff accumulates. But the rest, the rest has meaning, and objects cannot speak for us. Just ask these garage tools! Our team is focused on making it simple and fun to capture the meaning behind the objects of our lives. By doing that, we can help reduce the emotional burden, energy drain, and general chaos that physical objects around us can impose. 

Last month we published an interview on ARTIcles with a home organization professional that clearly struck a chord. We heard a resounding, "Been there!" message and the click as one of the superpowers of Artifcts fell into place: Organize and declutter without guilt. 

We are joining forces with the National Association of Productivity and Organizing (NAPO) Professionals as well as the local NAPO-Austin, Texas chapter, to help people through the organization process when you will need to know why you are keeping something (and then "organize that") or send it on to its next home. Each of those objects is a potential Artifct with a story, history, or meaning to capture whether you're holding onto it or not. 

We invite you to consider how Artifcts can help organize, declutter, and downsize so that you hold onto memories, not just objects.

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© 2021 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.