accidental uniqueness

my first china

This is one of my favorite plates; I bought it eleven years ago together with three other outcasts. Each item carries its own small deformation and all are all made of high quality hotel china. 

Expecting a lot of visitors for lunch coming Sunday I decide it is time to extend my curious little china family with some new unique species. Luckily the shop still exists and even the balloons that mark the entrance look like they have never been away.   

Old stone steps lead me down into a semi dark hallway, probably not really inviting for the ignorant but I know better, I remember the small treasure that I found years ago in this poorly lit and cold canal house cellar.

the owner

Inside resides the owner, a lady in black with a dark husky voice that seems in contradiction with her fragile appearance.

The place is packed with china and there is barely space to walk. Together with another visitor I silently move around in deep concentration, for an outsider it must look like a performance. I balance myself toward the back of hallway where the derelicts are hidden. There seems to be no particular order and many items are out of reach, waiting for the moment to be revealed when their neighbors are sold. While I carefully maneuver through the space, overly conscious of my shopping bag that can destroy a heap of plates any moment, the queen of the china jumps around as if it concerns stacked melamine plates instead of porcelain. While expressing my adoration about the shop to her I hear the sound of something collapsing in the adjacent room, it doesn’t seem to bother her, her face stays stoical, her emporium is invincible.

stacks of porcelain

I find what I am looking for and while settling the bill we have some small talk. The owner explains me that she buys the china straight from the factory in the USA already for 18 years now. It still is a hobby next to her full time job at the university. The mishaps are the heritage of her first five years in action, as a beginner she hadn't yet developed her critical eye.

Will all these irregularities that I love so much slowly disappear and be replaced by the perfect china? I fear this will be inevitable but I am also quite sure that the uniqueness of the shop and its owner will still be worthwhile a visit.

irregular and unique