Why antique

My grandmother became a collector of antique chairs because it reminded her of growing up as a child in the South. Here are several reasons why people enjoy collecting antiques. People can become a collector of antiques because the items hold sentimental value. Many people have started an antique business because they enjoy restoring antique pieces and selling them to people.

Some people enjoy collecting their items that center around their favorite game or comic book. They say, "none of our pieces are worth a lot but they hold memories of our travels and the talent of friends and family.

Antique items were generally made with skill and to last. They are handed from generation to generation. Modern items, such as IKEA, are not made to last. No one hands IKEA onto their children in their will. It all goes to the rubbish tip. In a Tasmanian cottage decorated with antique furniture a lamp with a marble base sits alongside an antique French frame atop a Georgian bachelor chest. How to decorate with reclaimed objects real living. Expert tips for growing herbs indoors Homes To Love Jul 12, How to work with a white interior Homes To Love Jun 23, How to embrace earthy tones in your home real living Jun 17, Renovating where to spend and where to save Australian House and Garden Jun 15, Buying antique and vintage jewellery makes you a conservator rather than a consumer.

Diamond jewellery created before this time are untarnished by this unpleasant and badly regulated controversy. And finally, most antique or vintage jewellery dealers are one-man-bands or small teams and family businesses, so buying old jewellery supports small businesses as opposed to big corporations.

Jewellery was not mass-produced or even widely available to the masses until recently so it is highly unlikely that you will ever find a duplicate of a piece of antique or vintage jewellery. Identical matches were more or less impossible. When it comes to antique jewellery, many pieces will have been created as a one-off by a skilled craftsman for a member of the upper classes.

There is something very romantic about jewellery from another era, with a story to tell. With a piece of antique or vintage jewellery, we become the next chapter of its sparkling history.

Anybody can go to a well known jewellery brand and choose a piece of modern jewellery. To go out of your way to track down a beautiful piece of antique or vintage jewellery that you fall in love with requires personal style.

Half the fun of buying and collecting old jewellery is the hunt. So instead of antiques, many interior designers turned to neutral flat-pack furniture. Flat-pack now dominates the cheaper end of the market. Over the past few decades, the growth of low-cost self-assembly furniture has been dizzying, fuelling a disposable culture where items are regularly replaced, rather than cherished for generations.

A fashion for minimalism in recent years has also contributed to the decline of antique demand, says de Cabarrus. Built-in storage caused a mass redundancy of antique wardrobes and chests of drawers, which are now gathering dust in the backs of country warehouses. Meanwhile for many people, regularly moving for work or changing apartments has meant keeping hold of fewer home furnishings, argues Tsaknaki.

So, while there may still be niche, high-end designers selling objects that endure, with so many people favouring cheap, replaceable homeware over heirlooms, it begs the question of whether our descendants will be left with nothing from us.

For many people, some of their most expensive possessions — apart from cars or property — are not antiques. They are often phones or laptops, which have a limited shelf life, their longevity shortened even more by broken parts and sluggish software.

Compounding this short lifespan is planned obsolescence, a practice at least years old. The tactic was made infamous by the Phoebus Cartel, a group of manufacturers from the US, UK, Germany and elsewhere, who agreed to start manufacturing light bulbs with lifespans limited to 1, hours.

Previously, light bulbs were made with thick, robust filaments capable of lasting for many years or even decades. At the start of the 20th Century, only the wealthiest could afford to have their homes fitted with electrical wires and light bulbs. So, they agreed to install light bulbs with equally short lifespans in order to generate repeat custom. The cartel was eventually busted after an investigation, but the practice lives on.

Some of the largest present-day technology companies have lost lawsuits for intentionally slowing the performance of their phones , for example, to encourage users to buy new ones.

Part of the success of planned obsolescence relies on buyers not being able to repair their technology. The repairability of technology is part of the resurgence of interest in analogue. Film cameras, record players and retro watches have all seen an increase in second-hand sales. Antique clocks and vintage musical instruments — considered hi-tech in their day — are another example of fixable analogue devices.