OBJET PETIT (A)

The OBJET ! PETiT name is derived from Jacques Lacan’s philosophy of objet petit (a), or the constant sense that something is lacking from our lives. Through exploring what is at the root at the human condition of desire, especially as it relates to material objects, we find a connection between the pursuit of physical and visual beauty and the fulfillment received from living a conscious, compassionate, and humanitarian life.

“The objet a is not, therefore, an object we have lost, because then we would be able to find it and satisfy our desire. It is rather the constant sense we have, as subjects, that something is lacking or missing from our lives. We are always searching for fulfillment, for knowledge, for possessions, for love, and whenever we achieve these goals there is always something more we desire; we cannot quite pinpoint it but we know that it is there. This is one sense in which we can understand the Lacanian real as the void or abyss at the core of our being that we constantly try to fill out. The objet a is both the void, the gap, and whatever object momentarily comes to fill that gap in our symbolic reality. What is important to keep in mind here is that the objet a is not the object itself but the function of masking the lack.

(Jacques Lacan, pp. 87–88)