Hello and welcome.
Hello and welcome to my shop which I opened (I can't believe how many years ago) in 2009.
I was brought up with the idea of "Waste Not, Want Not" (if you use a commodity or resource carefully and without extravagance, you will never be in need) and “Make Do And Mend” (a pamphlet full of useful tips on how to be frugal and stylish in times of harsh rationing). Mothers and Grandmothers used to extend the life of clothing by 'turning' the cuffs and collars; girls learned how to darn as well as sew (A Stitch In Time etc!). Anything that could be mended, restored or repaired was. Recycling isn't a recent "tag"!
The point of all this gives you some idea of the background in which I grew up and I became a Collector of Things. The smaller, the better. It began with the little plastic charms inside Christmas Crackers, Stamps from all over the world, matchbox labels (the little boxes were made of wood and often had colourful labels), broken bits of jewellery from various family members were taken to "swap" at school. The whole family used to have regular Sunday outings to the local flea market and I enjoyed listening to the banter over items of "treasure" stallholders wanted to sell. I also learned a lot.
I began making jewellery with buttons and other items of haberdashery – zips and press-studs – alongside the colourful “child within” bracelets and necklaces made from little plastic toys and old beads. Beautiful mechanical watches, each one an example of precise and intricate craftsmanship – how could anyone possibly leave them lying in boxes, tins, drawers. I like to think I am giving them another chance to be worn and admired again, in an alternative form.
We (my husband makes things too!) sold at antiques markets and fairs enjoying a similar kind of banter with potential customers to the kind I’d heard as a child. Everything old has a story to tell. Wm Morris famously said “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be beautiful or believe to be useful”. I agree with this, and I think it applies to what a person puts on their wrist or around their neck. I also think the old saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is very appropriate 😊. I see beauty in the treasures I find, maybe you will too.