When I touch an object that has a history, my imagination can’t help but run away along the times it must have lived through.
I can’t restrain myself from buying old postcards and imagine someone writing them 100 years ago, the addressee treasuring the card for years and years, displaying, maybe even framing it.
Chipped porcelaine, however ugly, will always make me think of huge family lunches, kids running around the table, accidentally tripping and breaking the still missing piece off.
Books whose pages were turned by countless people before me, who read the same lines I’m reading and maybe thought similar thoughts.
Objects like these have value that has nothing to with their actual worth as it also depends on your ability to see it.
Like this belt which used to belong to my grandfather when he was a boy scout before the Second World War. It even has the date stamped on it, and the Budapest address of the scouting shop.
I already see my grandpa as a little boy, walking the streets of a very different Budapest, stepping into the shop while the bell rings to notify the salesman. I can also see him somewhat later, wearing this same belt, proudly frying pancakes in the middle of a forest, on a fireplace constructed in a ditch. (He told me about this when I was very small, and it apparently got stuck in my memory – maybe because the story involved sweets.)
For me, objects that have a past mean much more than a brand new designer piece. Not that I own any designer stuff - I just know that buying one of them wouldn't make me feel the same joy when I find an old, battered but beautiful object, that's seen more of the world than me. It’s truly an amazing feeling to "wear history". I find this piece much more precious than any brand new accessory.
Belt: Used to belong to my late grandfather, dress: Second hand, Jeans: Takko,
Sandals: Bata, Earrings: C&A, Ring: Jojó Art Shop
