I am definitely a sensitive person. 

I can´t bear the sight of people or animals suffering. 

I can´t bear the sight of trees being cut just because they are in the way, or too old and tattered. 

I can´t see food wasted. I am not a big cook or a big eater. I enjoy food but I am definitely not a "foodie" type, and still, I really have a hard time throwing food away. I think is my mom´s fault. As I said I have never been a big eater and when I often told her I could not eat absolutely any more, she would invariable point her finger at me and ask me to think about all those starving children around the world, and how much would they give for half of what I was about to leave on my plate. And then again, I am a sensitive person, so I could not bear the thought of those poor kids and just for them I would go ahead and clear my plate to my best. Didn´t my mom know me or what? 

I can´t see things thrown away, either. Discarded things feel as orphans to me. Orphans I want to nurture, to bring back to life to make them useful and purposeful again. I want to make things happy, as I want to make people happy.

The easy way is to trash the unwanted to become part of the big pile of trash on planet earth that we are all responsible for. I opt for rethinking their use. It  doesn´t feel right to just replace everything and anything with something new by an easy click of my mouse and some cash. We try to get things the easy way, because reusing, recycling, upcycling is a lot more work.   

When an average watch has been serving you for years and suddenly stops. What do you do? 

Where I grew up, people would take it to the jeweler and ask for it to be repaired, and for a few bucks (Pesetas at the time) you would get back on your wrist your old loyal friend for years to come. That is a beautiful story to me. A great relationship. 

Bottom line: my watch was sick I took the time and the effort and invested in getting it repaired. It makes me happy and my watch is happy too. It feels useful again. 

What do we do today in that situation? We throw it out of our lives, read it "garbage can". We will go online and find ourselves a new watch to buy and wear as soon as it gets out of the box one day later. We are not loyal to our things. We replace them way to easily. It is too much work. 

The same goes for jewelry. 

I have a confession to make. I still have those huge earrings that were so fashionable on the 70's.  Yes, they are vintage now!! 

I would buy a pair of earrings to match my corporate outfits. I would buy them as souvenirs when traveling for work or pleasure. I would buy them to match my fancy New Year´s eve dress every single year, for many years. I would get them as gifts since people knew how much I loved them. So I ended up with quite a collection. 

Fashion comes and goes and most people disposed of all those old pieces that were not fashionable anymore. So how come I still have them? They are nothing expensive, but their beauty and the memories they bring to me, is priceless. I don´t think I will wear them again, as earrings at least, but one day I will open the box where I keep them and I will find ways to incorporate them - as a whole or in little bits- into new jewelry pieces that I will proudly design and wear, and "it" and I will share our secret history, in a whole different way. It will feel as if we grew up together. 

Where do you keep your vintage or broken jewelry? Do you want to give them a second chance?  

I´d love to help you and your treasures to come together forever after. Contact me!  

Cheers!

Mar