Enter a workshop filled with expert craftspeople, bringing loved pieces of family history and the memories they hold back to life. A heartwarming antidote to throwaway culture.
Season 14 - Episode 6
The early birds at the barn are sisters Lottie and Amy, with a unique record of their childhood, a book given to Lottie as a Christmas present in 1976 when she was three years old. The sisters’ mum, an English teacher, wrote it while their dad, an art teacher, did the illustrations. As Lottie says, ‘It’s my most treasured possession still to this day.’ The book charts Lottie’s life from birth up to the age of three, including her sister Amy’s arrival. It provides a snapshot of happy times before their parents divorced five years later. Now that their father has passed away, the sisters are keen to preserve the precious keepsake for the next generation. Bookbinder Chris Shaw and art conservator Lucia Scalisi tool up to restore the damaged book to its former glory.
Next, arriving with a memento from his childhood, is Graeme, who has an unlikely heirloom in need of the metal-skilled minds of Dominic Chinea and Brenton West. Graeme’s dad’s old paraffin camping stove has put in the miles since it was purchased in 1957. It accompanied his parents on pre-kids cycling and camping trips, and later joined the whole family on walking adventures in the 1960s and 70s. But an explosion on a more recent trip has left the stove completely blown apart. Dom and Brenton take a two-pronged attack to get it back in action again, much to the delight of Graeme when he travels back to the barn.
Next, a challenge for woodworker Will Kirk is posed by Melanie, who’s brought a table that nods to her family’s globetrotting past. The table belonged to Melanie’s parents, who bought it in Thailand in the late 1960s. It then travelled around with the family as they moved homes multiple times. All family meals were taken around the circular table, with the food a fusion of her parents' English and Chinese heritages. The table is now dull and damaged, something Melanie is keen to remedy for the next generation. Will pulls out all the stops to bring the shine back to the family’s table.
The barn’s final visitor, Mick, has a flat tweed cap, which belonged to his late father, for the attention of master hatter Jayesh Vaghela. Mick’s father died when he was just 21, and the hat holds memories of the father he lost so young. His father, a bricklayer, wore the cap every day. It’s a tricky fix for Jayesh, who needs to transform the cap without losing the very precious smell that connects Mick to his dad. What he does leaves Mick lost for words.
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skorpion.
