dudes, i haz etsy shop.

i don’t know if i’ve ever told you why i haz etsy shop. so here goes:

i like buying stuff. i grew up digging through bins of used clothings and learned to identify silk, wool, cotton and linen before i was in double digits.

the two places i’ll go to if i’m feeling stressed or upset is a hardware store (my father was a handy man/carpenter) and the thrift store (my mom was a journalist, but we generally got pretty much everything from the thrift store growing up). we weren’t poor, we just never had a lot of cash. there’s something calming and reassuring about these two places for me: things to fix with and things to look nice in, and my super favorite: thrifted tools and clothes from hardware stores. but that’s probably it’s very own post..

i think my mother’s being from finland had a lot to do with my love of the thrift. for a long time the tradition of craft and design was something that most finns were, if not personally adept at, they at least knew about. most farmhouses had looms and it felt as though anyone of my mom’s generation knew more about making fabric than folks of the same age on this side of the pond. there was real value in items, their longevity was prized over their novelty. linens were handed down from one generation to the next, everything was mended and once it was in too poor shape to keep using as a sheet or a pair of socks it would be recycled as a rug or the wool would be reclaimed and felted into boots.

there’s a real ingenuity in scarcity that is valuable to me. so much of the world of necessity now if fueled by sales and marketing and i think we’ve lost touch with what need means.
and i don’t want to glamorize rural not-so-long-ago life. i don’t think it’s better by a long shot. life was hard, non-stop work fueled by a sheer determination to perserve and a genetic inclination towards potatoes and pickled herring. there are just some things we’ve forgotten and neglected that maybe we should re-examine and integrate into our lives.
for instance: leaches.
The Joke.

currently finland is flooded with the same stores you find in any large city anywhere in the world and i wouldn’t say that folks of my generation are any more knowledgeable about craft and design and quality than anyone anywhere else.

in any case, the mad obsession for crisp cottons, beautiful wool and creamy silk definatly came from my mom. her aunt was a textile artist who was also an incredible designer and an impeccable seamstress. my grandmother regularly designed and made or had local seamstresses make her wardrobe, in keeping with the fashions of the day. i have a lot of those pieces still and i get the impression that there just was no shitty fabrics in that day and age (the truth is the quality fabrics last, the lower quality ones are probably enjoying a new life as a rug somewhere. i hope.). absolutely everything is in brand new condition, the cuts are beautiful and flattering and everything is 40+ years old.when my mom moved to canada she had trouble finding the same quality clothes here for acceptable prices, so thrift shops quickly became where she did the bulk of clothing and bedding shopping.

it’s such an integral part of my upbringing i find it always sort of magical and creepy how there are full size runs of clothes in “real” retail stores. i loathe the idea of having the same clothes as other people (and while it is absolutely true i resemble my peers in style and inclination), there is just something so compelling about finding special-ness amid the troves of discarded garments, it’s like my own little bit of insignificant autonomy. it’s so slight, it’s so imperceptible, but it’s this teeny tiney gesture of dissent and i employ it often and with fervor.

i try to buy stuff that isn’t made in sweatshops, and isn’t using depeleting resources or making things worse. i love buying from indie designers, because i think supporting skilled craftspeople is really important, and i’m lucky to know so many amazing designers.

i really love vintage, anytime i see something new on the runways or in the stores i get right on etsy and find the pieces that inspired the trends.
i can always find something better quality for a way smaller price.

i don’t want to sound sanctimoniousness and totally full of myself, i just see the connection to goods and the reality of of how they’re produced getting more and more distant and i dislike it.
i fear it.
it’s like we’re all ignoring the very real implications of

i-want-stuff
+
i-don’t-want-to-pay-what-it-would-cost-for-me-to-produce-it
=
troubs

not only do people not know how to make things anymore, they don’t know how to tell if something is ok quality or not.

so.

that was a really long winded way of saying:
BEHOLD: LOOK WHAT ALL IS TUMBLING INTO THE SHOP