#98 Enjoying 'Not Buying' for Christmas and Ending Up with a Profit

I live in the UK without watching much TV, but there are a few programs that I find myself drawn into when my husband is watching them nearby.

This morning, too, the TV my husband turned on before leaving for work was showing a program called "The Repair Shop".

I included the URL just to give you a sense of the atmosphere, but just as I cannot watch Japan's NHK from overseas, I don't think you can watch the BBC broadcasts either. Please understand.

This is a place where, if you bring in something that has become tattered but is still precious and holds sentimental value, experts in their respective fields will restore it to its original, vibrant state.

For example, things that worked when you were a child, old toys that were completely broken and tucked away for a long time, a grandfather's precious watch, or a music box. Just as every person has a different life, the items brought in are filled with individual stories and feelings that others cannot fathom.

The program begins with the state of the item brought in and the story of why it is special and important. Then, the process of repairing individual parts, restoring colors, replacing fabric or leather, and polishing is shown with wonderful camerawork.

It feels just like Santa's workshop in a Western picture book. The camera skillfully captures grown adults lovingly fixing broken old things, and it is so lovely that you might mistake them for elves tapping and clattering away as they make presents.

Above all, what viewers look forward to most is seeing the clients who come to pick up the finished items choke up or shed tears of joy when they see them perfectly restored. It warms my heart as well.

I really love the British temperament of finding value in old things. And perhaps that connects to the spirit of 'mottainai' (waste not, want not) that was already within me.

God prepared something rather fun for someone like me...

That is the thumbnail photo at the beginning. It is a place in my local area called "THE ReSTORE" that remakes old furniture and household goods to give them new value. It is different from "The Repair Shop," which restores original items, but it embodies the spirit of using old things carefully instead of throwing them away.

A friend who was already volunteering there introduced me, and I started volunteering in October.

This is what the inside of the shop looks like. Through a partnership with the local recycling center, furniture that was once thrown away is collected and lined up in the shop in a transformed state.

Volunteers are assigned new projects in the workshop at the back of the shop and just keep working on finishing them.

I go once a week, bringing my own lunch, and everyone is so friendly, with someone always offering to make coffee, and the day just flies by.

For example, this is what I was allowed to do first.

Among the items collected through donations, there are many drawer and cabinet knobs with varnished wood grain. I sand them one by one with sandpaper and then paint them.
Someone taught me that if you attach the knob to the tip of an electric screwdriver, you can sand and paint it easily and evenly.

The design is left to the discretion of each volunteer, so I tried using stamps I had at home. It's fun...

The next thing I did was utilize an old saw. I removed the rust from the metal part, cleaned the wooden part with teak oil while leaving a vintage feel, and then applied a primer for metal.

I painted it with chalk paint and it became a memo board.

And this is my ongoing project. It was a chair covered in graffiti that young people must have used in a shared space. After sanding the whole thing, I decoupaged it with an old map.

I've come this far in three weeks. It was my wish to leave a part of it unmapped and paint it yellow.

Actually, the shop manager told me to cover the whole thing. I asked them to let me have my way, saying, 'Let's put it in the shop like this first, and if it doesn't sell, I'll cover it properly...'

Next week, I'll finish it with varnish and it will be on display in the shop. I even casually placed 'JAPAN' on the back of the backrest...

And, to my surprise, I've also been allowed to place my work in the shop as a creator (exhibitor).

Since it's before Christmas, there are things that are in season at this time of year, right?

I gathered driftwood that I always see when taking walks with my husband on the weekends and tried making a Christmas tree.

Smaller ones, too.

I make various things out of 100% wool blankets. I found this green blanket a while ago and thought it was the perfect green for Christmas, and it turned into this tree. I made it with the hope that people would decorate it with their favorite things, like brooches...

All the Christmas trees sold out within a week of being placed in the shop.

These Christmas trees were born from the simple, everyday pleasure of walking along the beach. Some were made from wood scraps found among the firewood for our wood stove; it's as if our daily life itself has taken shape.

When I told my husband, he happily said, 'I guess I have to go pick up some more.'

Sustainable living is being increasingly re-evaluated in this critical world where environmental destruction is progressing.

I myself am not trying to enlighten anyone with strong ideologies. I just started finding joy in these things while living a plain, modest life.

I find things that have been well-used more beautiful than mass-produced, shiny items, and it is far more fun to creatively repurpose designs or colors that no longer fit my lifestyle into something new...

It looks like I'm going to be happily busy until Christmas.

The reason I haven't been writing on note is because I've been doing things like this.

Lastly, here is the front of the shop yesterday. The opening photo was from when I started volunteering in October, and in a month and a half, the maple tree in front of the shop has turned a fiery red.

I am nearly sixty years old, and when I returned to the shop with my hands full after being so captivated by how beautiful they were that I picked them all up, I was told, 'A four-year-old girl did the same thing the other day and lined them up in a basket.'

It gets darker and darker by the time I hurry home.

It is getting colder, so please take care of yourselves and stay warm.

Postscript: My creative work for Christmas is still ongoing.