trees seeds plants fossils flowers bark bones design  

Is this
your artist friend?

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You might not think its a worthwhile thread fastfwd, uaually I think well of what you have to contribute but thats an idiotic response.
His work

That is one talented squirrel...
That is one talented squirrel! 😉

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im with you Heath...almost nothing in my house has a name attached to it, i just go after things that grab my eye....i have rocks/stones, shells, driftwood...all sorts of "junk".... things that ive gathered from special places or Nature;) that have an alluring texture or form....i have always strived to delight more in the mundane...i would sooner trade my sofa than my bottle of layered sand from every beach ive lived....but then im also a bit of a nomad, ive even train-hopped, and if i have to leave id rather take my memories than some meaningless furniture....

"Idiotic" seems a little strong...
... but ok, maybe it was unreasonable to hope that that picture would convey all this:
While I agree that there's lots that is "good" but doesn't have a name (or a manufacturer), I don't think I'd call a collection of organic materials found outdoors "design rich". No matter how pretty or functional it is, the natural product of evolutionary or environmental forces isn't "design".
To answer your question directly: No, I don't particularly enjoy gathering that stuff. I understand that there are people who love the idea of bringing nature into their home, but that's just not me. I have what I think is a nice-looking arrangement of dried twigs in a corner of one room, there's always fresh fruit on the table, and there are arrangements of dried and fresh flowers in the house... But beyond those little bits, I don't really let the natural world encroach on my domain.
Plus, my style is pretty austere anyway; I don't have large collections of man-made things, either. I really wouldn't enjoy dragging items home all the time and distributing them around my house like a squirrel hoarding nuts in a hollow tree for the winter. I want FEWER things, not more.
The idea of keeping things because they represent memories seems weird, too; why not just keep the memories, and leave the memorabilia where you found it? Things, no matter how sentimentally attached to them you are, are only THINGS; collect too many of them and, as they say, soon your things will start to own YOU.
Anyway, I'm sure your friend's house is an accurate manifestation of the way he thinks and feels. I happen not to feel the same way, and I think it's funny that the things your friend collects are also the sorts of things a squirrel might collect... But I didn't mean any offense.

I've told
people that this is the best thing on display in my home. I found it in a gutter fifteen years ago. It's hideously dusty now. I love the way its wind-blown form speaks for itself. I don't know what it is. There are berries (?) and the leathery leaves are a great color.

I just
Put birds on everything.

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things kept as memories are called mementos...something to act as a reminder...PHOTOGRAPHS, objects, etc...its something ive learned to do as i have lived everywhere but my original home for the last 8 1/2 yrs of my life[7 cities and a month of having no address except our car,cross country]..its something tangible to hold on to, a reminder.something that has been dear to me in my version of "the pursuit of happiness"...i have no regrets and wouldnt trade a week of my past for some peoples entire lifetime... not all that "weird"...and certainly no weirder than an unhealthy obsession with squirrels....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3SUPPeuRdU

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I agree entirely, the carpet that always shows up in photos I take here was given to me by an aunt in South Africa who died of cancer a few weeks ago, is it weird that when I clean it I think of her and how funny she was...its just being human and I wouldn't lose that for anything, its a continual reminder of my family which I'm apt to be insensitive to otherwise.
What is so rich to me are not just the forms but also the colours, Virtually nothing is as varied and saturated as the colours in a flower petal or other orgnaic thing (its actually sub surface scattering of light which is incredibly hard to achieve) but the browns in SDRs branch as so nicely varied that it demands appreciation.
Fastfwd, design is artificial, poor choice of words on my part, Richard Dawkins discusses this in the link, its quite interesting,
Wouldn't it be good to acknowledge and discuss the natural forms that have inspired so much great art and architecture? Its such an important wellspring from say William Morris to the Guggenheim that it seems a shame to just go on and on about the same old names all the time when there is potentially such a broader view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebIbuZ6kgsE

"Weird"
You're right, Matty, "seems weird" was the wrong way to phrase that. I should have said something like "isn't anything I relate to".
Let's not hijack this thread, though; Heath's basic topic -- decorating with, collecting, and drawing inspiration from natural objects rather than manufactured objects -- is more interesting than a discussion of where each of us is on the ascetic-to-hoarder curve.

Some of my most prized posses...
Some of my most prized possessions are a bunch of very smooth stones gathered on a beach on the north coast of Sjaelland, Denmark. We lived near there for a year and were near broke. I would have liked to have bought some cool chairs or something to bring back but there was just no money for that kind of thing. Instead, I went to the beach for a walk in bitter cold weather and saw all these big, smooth granite stones. I gathered as many as I could carry in several trips to the car, which wasn't parked very close. Just about tore my arms outta the sockets carrying them---they are HEAVY. I picked ones that were between 4" to 8" diameter.
It is now 12-13 years later and I still have all of them save for a few that I gave to friends (and some are on loan to my kids). I keep most of them outside near the front door and I love seeing them as I come and go. I'm so glad I took the time to pick them up and bring them home.
(They're actually pieces of Sweden that broke off and were washed smooth over centuries in the sea, eventually ending up on the Danish coast.)

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Jeez Spanky, you know you can get a bag of Knaster pebbles from Ikea for $1.50? Real vintage Scandinavia itself.
Thats a nice story, often the best experiences happen when you're poor.
Joking about Ikea, imagine buying a bag of pebbles!

My Pebble
is a Bird, so woody will be happy

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Professor Robert, in the library, with the rock...