...accidentally on purpose and how I became an Etsy shop owner.
OLDISH is the Etsy name of PERLEHUSET (AKA Knappehuset =Buttonhouse), an Oslo based supplier of all kinds of yummy stuff. The shop opened in 1935 and was until recently the largest still operating button shop in Norway. 22 years ago it was being sold out in bits and pieces, I saw the advert and bought the rest, my hobby became my jobb. Later, I also came across a big NOS stock of old beads, buttons, findings and trims from a closed down shop in Paris. 10 tons of its huge stock were delivered to Norway on a big truck. Imagine the number of hours I put into looking through, unpacking and shelving of these things. On one of the photos you can see my mother Irena who was almost 80 yrs old at that time and was my big cheerleader and also helped me to sort things out. She was very enthusiastic abot beads and buttons, I still find beads and unfinished jewelry all over her house. 29th of July 2015 was the last working day of my b&m store, now I enjoy managing several webshops.
Even now the discovering does not end! The old shop had all kinds of drawers, shelves, boxes and other less frequented storage media, which still unveil forgotten vintage treasures. They are often odd and not always very pretty, but I find them fascinating! Some of the things go even way back to the beginning of the shop's existence around 1935, while most are from the 1970's to 1980's. I am still overwhelmed and afraid I will never get enough time to list even a small fraction of the things I have.
