Building.

This month we start a new phase in the shop, the cracked front window is coming out, new steel lintels are going in, a new pillar is going in and then a new set of windows will be getting fitted, in short, the whole shop is having some much needed repairs carried out. During the initial part when the blocked in window sill was being dismantled we came across something curious, beneath the layers of plasterboard and paint i noticed a rusted corner of an enamel sign.

In a previous era the shop had been the local sweetie tobacco and paper shop, and presumably when it was having one of its numerous bodge jobs someone had used an old enamel sign in its construction. I have no idea what could be beneath the layers of history, whether the sign is intact or has been sliced up, but its a reminder to all that one generations treasure is another generations trash. indeed one of James’s childhood memories (mid 20th century) is these sort of signs being used to patch barn shed and to fill gaps in fences in north Wales.

The eye-watering prices these signs can reach in auction and antique fairs would, i am sure, have been ludicrous to the people who used the sign to reinforce the wall. In a similar way the price of what is now denigrated as “Brown furniture” would have been criminally cheap to them.

Another thing i cant help but think about is the physical quality of these objects, made to be ephemeral advertising signs but were still sheets of iron which have then had molten glass fused onto the surface. These objects were advertising material meant for the long term, not like today’s shop advertising signs which might run for a few months but ultimately destined for, at best recycling, and worst landfill.

Are we as a society so in need of the latest product?