Recorded live at the Pennsylvania Antiques Show, this panel brings together leading voices in the worlds of design, material culture, and collecting to explore what it means to live with objects today. Framed as a conversation on collecting—why we do it, how we begin, and what it means to steward the past—the discussion moves beyond acquisition and into the role objects play in shaping identity, memory, and home. Together, the panel considers how a new generation is approaching antiques and material culture with a fresh perspective, balancing scholarship with instinct, preservation with use, and tradition with evolving taste. At its heart, this is a conversation about how we carry the past forward, and why it still matters. About the Panel This collecting-focused discussion was convened as part of the Pennsylvania Antiques Show, the inaugural gathering of dealers, scholars, and collectors dedicated to the study and appreciation of American decorative arts and material culture. The panel explored the evolving nature of collecting today, from connoisseurship and scholarship to accessibility, storytelling, and lived experience, offering multiple entry points for both new and seasoned collectors. Panelists Michael Diaz-Griffith is a writer, designer, and historian working at the intersection of past and future. As CEO of the Design Leadership Network and Vice Chair of The Winter Show, he brings a storyteller’s instinct and a strategist’s insight to cultural life, helping organizations connect creative leadership with curatorial thinking. His work treats objects and images as sources of transhistorical insight, revealing how people have lived, imagined, and adorned their worlds, and offering cues for how we might live today. Through projects spanning museums, foundations, ateliers, and publications, he is known for making the material past feel newly alive. He is the author of The New Antiquarians: At Home with Young Collectors (2023), which helped spark renewed interest in antiques among a younger generation. His forthcoming book offers an inviting and authoritative guide to collecting in the 21st century. Follow Michael on Instagram.Matthew E. Monk is the Linda Eaton Associate Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and an Affiliated Assistant Professor in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the University of Delaware. His work takes a holistic and global approach to textiles in America, with a focus on process, structure, craft, and materiality. A dedicated teacher and maker, Matt emphasizes making as a primary mode of understanding, arguing that how something is made shapes how we interpret it. His forthcoming dissertation, A Useable Past: The Creation of an Appalachian Identity and the American Handweaving Revival, 1890–1940, reflects his deep interest in craft traditions and cultural identity. Originally from Appalachian Virginia, he comes from a long line of craftspeople, grounding his scholarship in lived experience and tactile knowledge. Follow Matthew on Instagram.Lisa Minardi is Executive Director of Historic Trappe and an internationally recognized expert in the history and material culture of southeastern Pennsylvania. She previously served as an assistant curator at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and has spent more than two decades working in the field. She is the author and curator of numerous exhibitions and publications on Pennsylvania German art and culture, including Pastors & Patriots: The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania and A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans & the Art of Everyday Life. Her work has been instrumental in advancing the study of regional material culture and traditional Americana. She also serves as editor of Americana Insights and Executive Director of the Lutheran Archives Center in Philadelphia. Follow Lisa on Instagram.Allie Kochinsky is a cultural host and the voice behind the Grandma’s Silver podcast, where she explores American life through the lens of heritage, home, and tradition. Through conversations with artisans, historians, and cultural stewards, her work highlights the rituals and objects that shape how we live. Through her platform @grandmillenniallifestyle, she has cultivated a distinct perspective as a heritage tastemaker, interpreting the past in ways that feel relevant, livable, and deeply personal today. Follow Allie on Instagram. If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.
