Here's a thought that came to me. When I was a child, I carried nothing - no smartphone, no money, no credit cards, no plastic health card. Really, nothing. I didn't even have a key to our house and got home before my parents returned from work.
Adults, particularly women, have large bags that carry all kinds of things - like a little personal home away from home. And our purses are filled with plastic money and plastic cards - all kinds of cards, credit, debit, loyalty, health, driver's license. All kinds of cards. In my view, that little plastic card has a short history tine.
There were metal plates like dog tags used in the 1930s through to the 1950s by individual department stores. The Diners Club issued its first credit card in 1950. American Express and Bank of America in 1958. I wonder what it was made of - there's no mention in the articles.
And part of the story is this curious IBM occurrence in the 1960s around the magnetic stripe:
"Essentially, the magnetic stripe took its form after an IBM engineer named Forrest Parry struggled to figure out how to store and transfer data with a credit card. His wife, who was ironing at the time, recommended he iron the required storage component onto credit cards in order to essentially "melt" it on. It worked."
Today there are hundreds of types of cards made of plastic, metal, or virtually stored on smartphones. You can swipe, dip, tap, or wave information at payment terminals. Lots of action verbs involving money.
So back to my purse, it is filled with plastic cards and plastic money, keys for homes and cars, a pen for old time's sake.
So what will be next? Contactless wearables, digital cards and a digital wallet? That seems likely. A smartwatch on the wrist may become the new purse. What do you think?
Anything is subject to floral designer creativity. Even a purse.
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