Instagram story viewer> @bestkeptwell> Posts

Joanna Goss | Owner Artist Curator

@bestkeptwell

136

followers

36

following

A Ritual of Remembering
Photos • Collections • Inherited Belongings | Organized, preserved & documented

POSTS STORIES REELS

I’m 40, and I love sharing the nostalgic stuff of my childhood with my son during the holidays. Sadly, this guy can no longer contain candy corn, but the moment it broke, I thought of the irony of it being Fall.

The way I see it, we move through seasons in life of intentional keeping, releasing, and preserving our possessions.

If you’ve ever broken a family treasure, you know the immediate impact to your gut. It feels like you’ve accidentally erased a piece of your childhood or memories of mom. As I stood emotionally reeling at my mess on the kitchen floor, I also knew that physical things are transient. Whether they’re handed down or deteriorate, or are parted with by gravity, holding onto the guilt will not bring restoration.

Kept Well uses the four seasons of Swedish Death to help you navigate your own heavy transitions. 🍁 by @bestkeptwell

Swedish Death Cleaning isn’t just getting rid of stuff, a bigger part is actively curating what you surround yourself with so that you feel joyful. I acquired the full set when my grandma was ready to let go. I pulled them, empty and dusty, out of her pantry and into my daily routine. The canisters keep my stuff contained while keeping her close. by @bestkeptwell

They are paper-thin, 1960s Kmart blouses, found in two different colorways. I have called them “The Twins” since high school.

For years, they have lived on the edge of my donate piles. They have made it as far as the trunk of my car, nearly recycled back into the thrift store abyss. At times shoved into moving boxes, cataloged as “inventory,”
But every single time I get ready to let them go, I pull them back from the pile.

I realized I wasn’t keeping them because they were rare artifacts. I was keeping them because they are a piece of my history. They survived high school, and every version of me to this day.

Instead of forcing myself to let them go out of a sense of obligation, I decided to tend to them. I recently had them mended.

What ghosts do you keep in your closet?? by @bestkeptwell

A recently inherited matchbook collection. Together, they form a map of a life.

I am currently tracing the coordinates and mapping the journey of the anonymous collector who pulled these from spots across the Midwest.

At Kept Well, we don’t just look for grand, valuable antiques. We look record the stories objects tell about their keeper. The small, unassuming things that hold the map of where someone has been. They’re the things you held onto simply because they made you feel alive.

#swedishdeathcleaning #heirlooms #legacycuration #matchbook #digitalarchive by @bestkeptwell

A Happy belated anniversary post to me! My mom’s 1980 catalog dress from my parents’ attic became my wedding dress last September. And my beautiful quilt coat was a dedication to my grandma. Love is a chain people. I’m so grateful to be one of the links. 🍂 🌺

That seamstress ➡️ @terryjanisch
That friend ➡️ @queen.of.marigold

#KeptWell #LegacyKeeping #WeddingDress #QuiltCoat #FamilyHeirlooms by @bestkeptwell

Wallpaper leaves an imprint on your brain. I made that up, but I believe it.

These paper names were hand cut from a reproduction of my grandma’s mid-century bathroom wallpaper. A pattern I stared at for what is conservatively hundreds of cumulative hours, doing what you do in a bathroom, as a kid with nothing else to look at.

I screen printed the design by hand and cut hundreds of names into it, one for everyone I’ve ever known. That’s the work: finding creative ways to preserve what we inherit, not just store it. As an artist and storyteller, this is how I keep things alive. The more I reflect on projects from my past, I realize that this was always my purpose.

#KeptWell #LegacyKeeping #StoryKeeper #midcenturywallpaper #PreservingMemory by @bestkeptwell

I spent Labor Day weekend doing something I put off for years. Two inherited watches, and mine from when I turned into a grown-up, all cleaned and repaired. Nothing fancy, just special.

Things that we leave sit too long start to feel like clutter instead of what they actually are: proof of life.

Time stopped the day these watches went into a drawer and this weekend it started again!

#KeptWell #LegacyKeeping #Memorykeeper #TimeStandsStill #FamilyHeirlooms by @bestkeptwell

Keep scrolling if you’re here for a recipe— my old reliable is a small appliance from the 1960s. And it’s true they don’t make them like they used to.

Dostadning, Swedish death cleaning, isn’t “throw it all away,” it’s asking what still deserves a place in your life. One day my son will inherit both the iron and the recipe.

#KeptWell #theydontmakethemliketheyusedto #SwedishDeathCleaning #Döstädning #Familyheirloom by @bestkeptwell

Found in a consignment shop in my 20s: a bracelet engraved with two strangers’ names. Doris and Harry, I never knew your story — but you’re the reason I now help others keep theirs. 🕊️

#KeptWell #LegacyKeeping #SwedishDeathCleaning #DöstädningLife #StoryKeeper by @bestkeptwell

BRB. Going down a wormhole researching how to get 1940s 16mm Cine-Kodak Safety Film scanned to digital. 🕳️

These Camp Willow Bank artifacts have no date, just two inscriptions: “pool” and “will call.”
Decades ago, my great-great-aunt dropped this film off and waited for it to come back. Now I’m waiting — two of us, two different universes, both in anticipation of the results. I’m diving deeper into this research, (pun intended), to be able to sense the feeling of being there.

This is the work I bring to my clients: not just converting the format, but carrying history and legacy forward so it doesn’t end where the reel does.

#KeptWell #SwedishDeathCleaning #LegacyPreservation #16mmFilm #Familyhistory by @bestkeptwell

This is my legacy book. Its story begins with my great-great-aunt, lived on through my grandma, and was passed down to me. I created this legacy book to keep that history alive — and to preserve the delicate photos that carried it.

That’s what a legacy book does: turns material inheritance into something you can easily hold and hand down.

Have a story like this waiting in a box somewhere? Let’s talk about what it could become. DM me “LEGACY” to start yours. 💌

#KeptWell #LegacyBook #Dostadning #SwedishDeathCleaning #FamilyHistory by @bestkeptwell

I grew up listening to my Grandma’s stories about Willow Bank. In art school I thought a lot about nostalgia, and I took an interest in WB, not just a place, but a placeholder — would I ever walk that ground, see the water kids canoed on without life preservers (as was the custom back then)? What happened to the horse barns? Where did the furniture go? So many questions.

To my absolute delight, I got to go to Willow Bank this weekend. I did not expect to meet two brothers who were former campers. I hope we meet again to share more stories. Thank you to the owners and memory keepers of WB for this experience.♥️ by @bestkeptwell