Why Very Old Is Suddenly Brand New
When I would rule the world, my first goal would be to find alternative ways to give people work without producing new stuff.
No more new clothes. No more new cars. No more new watches. No more new doorhandles.
Because there is enough, actually, too much of everything.
I understand that people in countries like India or Bangladesh depend on their jobs - why not give them tasks like repairing or alliterating clothes for re-use, instead of letting them produce new stuff every day, most of it to become useless waste only a few months later.
I understand that German economy depends on cars and Swiss economy on watches - same thought: Why not modernize the models to make them more eco-friendly - and then take care of them to make them live longer. We all know there is a market for old-timer and antique watches. Maybe it should be the rule, not the exception.
All naive ideas aside - I am not the only one who started to buy new stuff now only when necessary and instead exchange my wardrobe with friends and buy in special second hand stores. Before I through away anything, I try to find out, who might need it, who could still use it.
I will share my favorite addresses from now on - stores and places where you can find everything you need - used, but still useful or even prettier than anything new produced.
Like the store of Rainer Leonhardt and his sons in Berlin´s Charlottenburg area. Here you will find all kinds of building material and accessories you might need for your apartment or house: door and window handles, knobs, keys and locks, tiles, lamps, even fire place devices and certain ensembles of decoration or function.
Everything is old, not necessarily antique, but always made from more sustainable materials than those used today, within the workshop of the Leonhardt family everything is brought back to life, cleaned, polished, ready to get installed again.
I even love to be there, when we do not need anything.
Just wandering along the shelves is fun, like visiting an art gallery or a special museum. And by talking to Rainer Leonhardt or one of his sons, all experts for historic preservation and highly qualified craftsmen you will learn a thing or two you might not have known before.
"antike baumaterialien für denkmalpflege und restaurierung"
rainer w. leonhardt
Schustehrusstr. 20 -22
10585 Berlin-Charlottenburg
(close to Charlottenburg castle and U-Bahn Richard-Wagner-Platz)
Fon: 030 - 342 10 48
Fax: 030 - 348 23 56