Necklace, $3

From the vantage point of a café in the heart of Brunswick Street, you see very little evidence of the 800-plus families who make their homes in the high-rise estate just a few hundred metres away. Through the Fitzroy Market, organisers Louise Irving, Fiona Newton and Elizabeth McCarthy hope to bring together public housing residents, local hipsters, warehouse apartment/renovated terrace dwellers, tourist blow-ins and the Fitzroy Primary School community. The emphasis is on trash and treasure, with up to 50 stalls selling pre-loved clothing, accessories and bric-a-brac in a festive environment. With the nearby Rose Street Artists Market covering art and design, there’s never been a better time to spend a Saturday morning in Melbourne’s oldest suburb.

Treated quartz ring, $195

In their ads, many jewellery companies play on the idea of a piece of jewellery telling a story. But a piece of new jewellery doesn’t tell that much of a story. There’s the story of its manufacture in a factory in Thailand, followed by the story of its sale in a shop in Chadstone. Estate jewellery is able to add the story of its repeated use as an engagement ring, or perhaps the story of an owner’s decline. But it is pawned jewellery that has contemporary stories to tell, stories of drug addiction, a gambling habit or maybe a sudden retrenchment. There are many modestly-priced pieces of jewellery at pawn shops, which point to many modest payouts made to individual sellers. I often wonder, how much of a reprieve did each payout actually buy?

http://www.webshop.cashconverters.com.au/

Jade drops, $10

It’s uncool to bargain at an op shop. The goods are donated, the staff are volunteers and the takings go to charity, so for the customer to be in it for himself just seems wrong. Not that there aren’t reduced prices to be had. When I went to buy these $20 earrings, I told the woman serving me I planned to swap the screw backs for hooks. She told me she was after some gold screw backs and could she buy them off me? I removed the screw backs and told her to have them. “Let’s split it,” she said. So I paid $10 and she paid $10; taking the cash out of her purse and putting it in the till she worked for no pay. Who says the free market is an unforgiving system?

Bead necklace, $190

African Trade Beads are glass beads that were traded into Africa from Venice and Bohemia (circa 1880-1910) in exchange for gold and other commodities. The beads were then used as currency across the north of Africa. Many made their way into Ethiopia, and these antique beads are available from www.ethiopia.com.au, a shop in Fitzroy that doubles as the offices of the Ethiopian consulate.

Greg Mann recycled
teaspoon necklace, $20,
South Melbourne Night Market

Shopping and eating are my favourite activities. When my children were babies and spending every waking moment either crying in my arms or attached to the breast, shopping and eating became my holy grail. One night a week and every Saturday morning I would leave the children with their father, get in the car and burn off to the inner city. A feeling of freedom and release would wash over me as I put more and more distance between us. If the South Melbourne Night Market had existed then, I would have made it a peak Thursday night destination. There is live music, the stalls emphasise vintage fashion and locally-made accessories, and the cafés along Cecil Street are all open and buzzing.

1950s earrings, $250

My six-year-old recently asked if she could have her ears pierced. I told her yes, and that we’d get it done at a pharmacy. As the days passed, however, I felt less and less comfortable about the idea. I actually wanted the needle for her, not the stud gun, as the needle is quicker and cleaner and is wielded by a dedicated practitioner as opposed to a shop assistant. So I took her to a body piercing studio, where we had an extremely positive experience. She did confess to me afterwards, though, that she’d thought for a moment that she might die because the piercer had looked just like Al, the villain from Toy Story 2 (albeit a heavily tattooed version). So yes, she’s much too young to be wearing earrings like these.

Every so often I come across a person who listens, who really listens. And it scares the bejesus out of me because I say a lot of stupid things which I’m relying on people to forget. There are vague notions floating around in my head which I really should keep to myself but which I invariably blurt out because I always answer questions as thoroughly and honestly as I can. Unfortunately, this leads to follow-up questions such as “Weren’t you going to move to New York?” or “Weren’t you going to buy a coffee cart?” or “Weren’t you going to start a handmade jewellery business?” Well, vintage button collector Leora Elton really did start a handmade jewellery business. It’s called Preloved and her brooches and necklaces are stocked all over town.

Centre link bike chain bracelet, $15
http://www.recycledacc.com/

I sometimes feel for Elle Macpherson. Her need to be seen as desirable seems not to have abated with age, and I cannot be convinced that the pursuit of it continues to be empowering. Isn’t it just increasingly difficult and a little bit deflating? I do appreciate her recent resurgence as a model, though, for I like to use her as a barometer for my own Peter Pan complex. In particular I am struck by her wrist. Above her Rolex she wears a stack of cheap bracelets, and I reckon each one has some significance for her. And if Elle’s not too old to wear folksy jewellery, then neither am I. I don’t know what the special significance of this bracelet might be for me. Maybe that I love my bike?

Ring, $30

Some years ago I toyed with the idea of aspiring to a Cartier Tank Francaise watch. Then I forgot all about it until I walked into an op shop and saw one in a cabinet. It was labelled “Imitation Cartier – Excellent.” I asked what the excellent referred to. Was the watch in good working order? “It means we’ve had it appraised and it’s been deemed an excellent imitation,” was the reply. This ring was also sent off by an op shop for an appraisal. I don’t know about excellent, but it was found to be 18kt gold.

Paper bead necklace, $36

I know next to nothing about wine, so it has never been a problem for me to order all my table wine through the Oxfam Shop, which sources wines from small to medium-size Australian wineries who work with producer partners in some 35 developing countries around the world. The initiative used to be called the Wine into Water program, and now, a not-for-profit called Voices for Global Change has a Paper to Pearls program. Old magazines are fashioned into paper bead jewellery by women in the internal refugee camps of Northern Uganda.