Hidden in Camden Passage is Granny’s Goodies, a tiny, timeless cave crammed full of teddies and porcelain dolls. We call it nostalgia, and Brenda Gerwat-Clark makes a living from it.
Nurturing the precious souvenirs of our early years, she restores vintage toys to their former glory in a home studio before selling them on to collectors. But childhood memories don’t come cheap – her priciest bear is on sale for a whopping two and a half grand.
“I can show him to you if you’d like?” she grins, as she lifts a century-old bear off the top shelf in mint condition.
“Perhaps this teddy belonged to a child who died,” she ponders, “and the parents kept him for the memories.”
Brenda’s hobby began when she married an antiques dealer who encouraged her to fix up some old dolls. His passion quickly became hers too.
“My husband’s enthusiasm made me realise what a fabulous social history record dolls are.
“You can see the development from porcelain to wax to material- they’re an art form in that way, going right back to 1860.”
Brenda may not have been looking after teddies at all if she hadn’t had a lucky escape with the real things in her youth.
“I was an adventurous 21-year old , driving across the Rockies and spotting some cubs,” she said.
“I didn’t think twice about getting out to take a closer look. Then the mother bear chased me – my, do they run fast!
“Luckily I reached the car in time but she followed, roaring, so I hid under the back seat until she left. You’d think that would have put me off bears but I’ve always loved them.”
Teddies and dolls can be movie stars too. Brenda’s have appeared in a range of Hollywood hits, from Madonna’s recent W.E to Tim Burton’s 2007 blockbuster, Sweeney Todd.
Since the latter is a popular horror film about a murderous barber, I tell her I find a couple of the dolls creepy. She looks at me intently. “I I don’t see why,” she says.
“They’ve eyes, a nose and a mouth? Why do you think they’re spooky? Some of them even blink .”
Unlike her, Brenda’s three children never cared much for dolls and teddies. “I was an only child, so that probably encouraged me to play with toys and use my imagination.I loved my dolls and never grew out of them.”
But as children begin to swap their teddies for iPhones, do Brenda’s toys still have a place in modern society? “Most people I talk to have either still got a doll from childhood, or look with venom and say ‘My mother threw them all out.’ Nostalgia keeps them timeless.”
