Since I was young, I had a love for arts and crafts, but I was in suburban/techy California where architecture, handicraft and small businesses don’t thrive in the same way they do in the UK. The summer we moved to London, we visited all sorts of museums full of old relics and great art and visited Hampstead a lot to look at the ‘cute houses’. I wasn’t really enchanted by these experiences because I was 12 and more concerned with anime and Pinterest illustrations. That is, until a trip to the Cotswolds.
We stumbled upon an antique store called Cirencester Antiques Centre. When you enter, you’re met by a maze of glass cases full of weird junk- war memorabilia, sets of intricate china that were probably owned by someone who died. You go deeper and it seems to never end. In a room of books and paper media, I found myself flicking through old advertisements, struck by their beautiful typography and illustrations, even for mundane products like soap. A corridor lined with glassware revealed clunky colored bottles with their original labels (again, in beautiful type) indicating the chemicals they once held. Some pieces were organic and flowing, almost like sea creatures - I later learned these were ‘handkerchief bowls’, popular from 1950-1980. Each piece sparked curiosity.
I enter a tiny corner for kitchenware. Intricate plates, bowls, pots, jugs in naturally beautiful materials like ceramic or enamel. Utilitarian household items used to be made with great craft, something lost in modern-day consumer products. A small spoon engraved with a farmer and a windmill, with spokes that actually turn! To imagine that somebody, a long time ago, used that spoon, say, for their sugar bowl. And before that, somebody actually made it. Ceramic jars, in the typical cornwall style with blue stripes, painted text describing their contents. These items are packed with stories: how they were made, where they’ve lived. I like to light candles in old candleholders. My favourite are Indian, from the Cirencester Antique Centre, £10 for the pair, made of wood with embossed metal detailing. They’re probably over 100 years old. Imagine the late-night conversations they’ve overheard. A sweater I bought and mended the holes in reminded me of its past lives when I found mended holes on it already: somebody had taken the care to fix tiny holes in it, just like me, how lovely.
Outside of personality and aesthetic, that pair of candle holders is in great condition despite their age, as are many antiques I own. It’s cool to know I own something that will certainly outlive me; something you can’t say of most household items bought in the present day. Things used to simply be made to last longer, and with an element of craft and attention to detail that consumer product culture has killed. Materials used to be nicer (a great example is clothing, which used to be made of like cotton, wool, linens, etc and now are made in synthetic materials which don’t age as well and also just look worse).
The final room of Cirencester Antiques was like an attic, where I found a slightly oversized black metal fork, with a large ultramarine blue marble wedged into its prongs. Even now, I am still curious about how it ended up in the state it is now. Is it art? Is it a joke? I returned to the store after a few years, and it was still there… I should’ve bought it.
Some antique items have a way of living on in my memory for a while, even if i didn’t end up picking it up. I once saw a particularly adorable pair of salt and pepper shakers, out of my budget, but I knew I would think about it forever. But worse is when you could have bought it, or you find out that to acquire it normally is impossible/much more expensive. This has happened a few times (worst is a set of the popular, modular Stoff Nagel candle holders, but in a limited edition orange which I’ve never seen online or in person again). I like to think I’ve learned my lesson now, but just a month ago, I passed up on a really special lemon squeezer in my favourite thrift store in Rome, due to luggage space. It was extremely large, fit-for-purpose, stainless steel, honestly an over-engineered lemon squeezer. The week after I got home, I bought loads of large lemons and oranges and struggled trying to juice them in my normal, tiny lemon squeezer, getting juice everywhere and needing to cut lemons into eighths to get them to fit. And I haven’t been able to find anything like it online.
the salt and pepper shakers of dreams
this is a version of the Stoff Nagel candleholders in a brushed brass. the ones i passed up were the same shape but in a really cool bright orange. they’re modular: you can buy as many of the triangular component and arrange them into cool shapes
Antique stores are like museums but better: you can experience objects with all your senses (probably not taste), physically demonstrate how they were used, or chat to the owner about things you’re curious about and hear about their relation to the item! And if you really love something you can buy it: it could be something beautiful, unique, utilitarian that you’re able to use every day, and it might even exist longer than you will. Isn’t that wonderful! I encourage you to give your local antique store, or even charity shop, a chance.
My favourite places for antiquing:
- Cirencester Antiques Centre: as described above. An endless maze of curiosity; British and world antiques from small trinkets to large pieces of furniture. You can browse it in 3D on google maps:
- Keith Fawkes in Hampstead, London: A really sweet old guy who lays out a different set of items every day outside. He will pick a seemingly random price upon asking him, and will be hesitant to bargain, but it’s worth asking. The range of items is very wide, but he stocks mostly British (some east Asian) antiques
- St Alban’s Antique Market: Once a month, a long street of great deals and curious items. Keep an eye out for the Scandinavian mid-century stall. Usually her items are pretty expensive, but you get some really interesting items (like the salt and pepper shakers above)
- Pro Antiques, Kyoto: The nicest owner who will tell you about everything. Well-organised but maintains the maximalist/cluttered/cozy vibe, items labeled with their era.
- Mercatino Dell Usato, Tiburtina, Rome: I believe this is more of a thrift store warehouse or something, but you get some gorgeous Italian ceramics and kitchen items for super cheap. Complete sets of plates and bowls for <£5. If I lost all my things and got a new house and had to furnish it from scratch, Mercatino would be my first stop. Also a great selection of clothes; lots of designer clothing and accessories, for very reasonable prices. I think they acquire a lot of the stuff from rich people who die, because some of the stuff is so nice that there’s no way I’d donate it unless I died. The people who work there are really sweet, and offered us some really good deals upon interacting with them.
- A cute story is that my mom and I were looking at two vases, one probably Danish and the other one a classic Castelli in perfect condition despite delicate parts. A really old Italian lady watched us deliberating and was really shocked that we would even consider the Danish one against the other one. Obviously we bought the Castelli! And I’ll always think of that sweet lady when I see the vase.
- A cute story is that my mom and I were looking at two vases, one probably Danish and the other one a classic Castelli in perfect condition despite delicate parts. A really old Italian lady watched us deliberating and was really shocked that we would even consider the Danish one against the other one. Obviously we bought the Castelli! And I’ll always think of that sweet lady when I see the vase.
- Marche Aux Puces in Paris: the biggest flea market in Europe, I think. Honestly gigantic. And some really cool specialised stalls. I was a big fan of the stall selling just anniversary clocks from Germany. What’s cool about anniversary clocks is that they keep time with an interesting mechanism called a torsion pendulum, which only needs to be wound once a year. I bought my film camera there. But Marche Aux Puces has a lot of other cool things, pretty much any European antique you can think of is probably there.
