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Knife sharpening, scissors sharpening, big or small, is an art that one learns with time. Mr Alexandru has been a whetter for many years now, working in the only workshop for sharpening still open on Kogalniceanu Bvd. For kids these days to guess what a whetter does requires a lot of imagination. Because of the noise the polishing stones make when they constantly rotate. Whetting is a although loud, solitary kraft.

The whetting workshop of Mr Alexandru seems like coming from the past, from the period between the world wars. Even for many passer-bys seems a deserted place. But is far from reality. Mr Alexandru can strongly accomodate orders in this tiny space, that cannot fit more than two people at once, most of the space being used by all the tools that you need in this craft of whetting.

One can make in this tailor shop a wide variety of touch ups, easy and without a big fuss. about it. Although many prefer to throw away than to repair, because it takes too much of their time to go to a tailor, here is not the case, the shop being located in a crowded, transitory area, right “in your way”. A stop at the tailor represents quality time dedicated to sustainable living.

Close to Norilor Market, Mr George waits his customers in the workshop that has written in front “Mobila si tapiterie” –> Upholsters. Reading the cooperative’s website, we find out that it was established in 1959 and holds a long tradition in building, repairing and restoring furniture and interior designs of all sorts. Mr. George has a lot of experience in the field, proven by the photographs taken on his phone of all the chairs, sofas and armchairs that he upholsters with patience and care. Sometimes, the craft of the upholsterer can be noticed in the interiors of cultural spaces of Bucharest. Next time we go to see a theatre play or other cultural events, we can look more attentively around and perhaps we will be able to spot the work done in the workshop

If we take a glimpse at old photos of Calea Grivitei, we see a real uproar. This street has always been visited by all sorts of merchants, craftsmen or petty sellers. The tailor shop with interwar looking facade owned by Mr. Constantin has such image hung inside, which reminds one of a past atmosphere of Calea Grivitei. On the shelves there are fabrics made in Brasov. Mr. Constantin has kept the business in the family and he is working together with his son and daughter in law, nowadays mostly does touch ups and rarely man suits from scratch. He has numerous stories to tell: once you step in this tailor shop you find details about what signs to look for to tell if a jacket suits you well, or about the recent history of the looks of the street.

The great number of advertising on this side of Academiei Street, some of which for places that don’t exist anymore, makes the clock-fixing workshop hard to find. Across the street from St. Nicholas Built-in-a-Day Church we can leave out watches and glasses frames to be fixed by trustworthy hands.  

Mr. Stan is a talkative type of person, and he strongly believes that if one does a craft like his – shoe maker – is impossible to be otherwise. A great share of such kind of craft is working with people, side which the shoemaker has always enjoyed. In a workshop almost the size of a shower cabin, Mr Stan vividly repairs shoes, changes heel lifts or just cleans particular leathers.

The tailor shop on Stefan cel Mare Street is a place which follows a grounded method of working that has come from the times when the tailors used to spend the night in the workshop if needed to finish the orders. Tailoring is a craft where if you don’t follow the technical process, errors can easily pop up. The creators of pattern are aware of these details. For the tailors on Șoseaua Ștefan cel Mare number 46, no order is absurd order or hard to make it real.

The whetting workshop “La Ştefan” is not a common whetting workshop. Not because the whetter is very good at sharpening all sorts of things which may seem impossible to sharpen, but because the moment we set a step inside the workshop, we are surrounded by paintings. Mr. Stefan is not an art collector but a painter and all the paintings in the workshop are his creation. A man of many talents. So next time we need to sharpen something, but we also want to feel like in an art space we can pay a visit to Mr. Ştefan.  

Mr. Petru says that since the passage Grant was built, fewer people step inside his shop for glasses and mirrors. Changes in the urban landscape are most of the time crucial to small family businesses or for workshops of this kind. But thanks to internet , now we can easily bypass the street and to know that around the corner we can find Mr Petru who works with glass.

Taking a stroll on 1 Mai Bvd we find Croitoria Artim which answers the needs of those who live or work in this area. One of the methods to apply principles of sustainable consumption is to buy less and repair, but also to choose the local business. The tailors are doing this job for many years now and they say that very little is surprising anymore. That does not exclude that every tailor has their own preferences.

We find Mr. Constantin on Corneliu Coposu Street, behind a very attractive shop facade. Mr. Constantin has been a cobbler for many years now, in the present workshop he has been working already for 26 years. He repairs zips, soles, heel lifts, stitches and does gluing even for purses, which we too often abandon even if we could so easily repair instead.