Secondhand September Giveaway 🧈

It’s Secondhand September!

Granted, September is almost over, but better late than never! And a secondhand way of life is forever, not just for September, anyway.

Secondhand September was created by Oxfam in 2019 to promote the movement and it’s had great strength in social media since, with thousands of people tagging their secondhand finds. There’s still a lot of stigma in society about buying and wearing things that were previously worn and owned by someone else, and also about re-wearing clothes you’ve worn before. That’s all so silly! One can clean pretty much everything, and re-wearing clothes is a sign you’ve found your style and know what you like, not to mention the resources saved by not buying something new.

What is secondhand?

Something can be considered secondhand when it’s been owned/worn/used by someone else before you.

For the differences between vintage, secondhand, retro and antique, read this post.

Why should we prioritise secondhand?

The fashion industry as a whole produces about 150 BILLION garments every year, which is about 20 new garments per person per year. However, almost half of the world population can’t afford to buy all these new things, so we can assume that a lot of these garments don’t even get sold. Fashion Revolution estimates that, considering a sell-through rate (both full and discounted) of a very generous 90%, then potentially 15 billion items of clothing (10% of the 150 billion being produced) become ‘deadstock’ every year, most of which end up going to landfill or incinerated. All this means the fashion industry is grossly wasting materials and overproducing. In fact, most industries became “fast”, where products are made cheaply to be sold cheaply and not last long.

Read more about sustainability here!

Secondhand September Giveaway

Lucie from Maison Spoon and I have joined forces to offer you two little gifts in honour of Secondhand September! You can enter it on Instagram here - open only to UK residents, sorry about that!

Lucie sources the cutest vintage cutlery, carefully cleans and polishes them, then hand-engraves your chosen words on the blade! It’s such a nice gift/keepsake! If you’re reading this post, I assume you already know that here at Luneta Creations I curate wounded vintage jewellery, clean and take them apart to upcycle their beads into unique creations you won’t find anywhere else!

As both of us create something new out of mostly secondhand items, it’s Secondhand September and, let’s face it, we could all have a bit of cheerfulness right now, we thought our audiences would enjoy getting a little gift from each of us:

ꔛ A vintage butter knife with a gorgeous lilac handle, ready to be hand-engraved with your words (worth £35)

ꔛ A pair of the (butter) Yellow Orb Earrings, handmade in London using vintage glass beads from the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s, finished with new sterling silver ear posts (worth £48)

A little interview with Lucie from Maison Spoon

Lucie is such a cutie! We met years ago when taking part in a Salad Days market, and kept seeing each other at markets after that. We actually now both work in the same company for our day jobs, as we try to make our sustainable side hustles work on the side…

What’s Maison Spoon all about? How and when did it start?

My name is Lucie, also known as Madame Spoon (or the spoon lady) and I am a French Londoner! I started Maison Spoon 3 years ago. At the time I was an engraver for a jewellery company and I had always thought I would launch my own brand but I didn’t want to add anymore shit to the planet. And because I eat everything with a spoon and I am a fan of antique markets, I started engraving spoons!

I started with spoons but now also engrave lots of cutlery including forks, butter knives, cheese knives, cake forks, cake slices, etc. I took part in my first market that same year and within 9 months I had my spoons sold in Selfridges as part of a pop up with Salad Days Market!

So Maison Spoon is all about reusing beautiful preloved cutlery, personalising them by hand in my French cursive handwriting with custom messages, love notes or rude words. I love reusing stuff so much that I’ve even started making spoon rings but that’s another story!

What’s your favourite place to shop secondhand?

Depends what I am shopping for! For clothes I love a charity shop - love traid, even though their prices are a bit higher than other ones, but I find something I like most times. If I’m looking for something specific I’ll be looking on Vinted.

For furniture and little bits and pieces I love an antique market, same for jewellery.

Also, so many small businesses are working with preloved textiles and jewellery so I will always visit a small biz market like Salad Days because there are good chances I’ll find something reworked like a shirt, a little pouch or some beaded jewellery, etc.

Have you always liked vintage/secondhand or is it a newfound love?

I’ve always loved a good bric a brac, old books and cute markets. But I must say the passion for antique markets has clearly become an obsession when I started the spoon business. Which is a shame, because growing up in France there are so many good brocantes!!

What’s the naughtiest/cheekiest thing you’ve engraved so far?

The rudest would probably be the C word! A naughty one I engrave often is “I licked you so you’re mine”!

The most romantic: A proposal (“will you marry me?”) and a few pregnancy announcements too.

When is your next market?

Sunday 16th November at Salad Days Market, at Battersea Power Station.

To stay up to date with Lucie’s markets and spoon adventures, follow her instagram and check out her website for your very own personalised treasures!