Readers of this site will no-doubt be acolytes to the gems that can be found in charity shops. But to get to the treasures, often you have to crawl through a lot of rubbish that looks unlikely ever to find a new home. That's where Emma Harding's Charity Shop Orphans come in. Harding is an avid charity shop collector, especially of sad and neglected ceramic animals. Apparently on realising these were overrunning her house, she began repainting and re-naming her finds, grouping them into new families.
A selection of her pieces are now on sale through The Shop Floor Project. The pieces are often luridly coloured, the way they're decorated bearing no relation to the original ceramic, and certainly aren't to everyone's taste. However, they are an alternative way of thinking about and trying to create new pieces from otherwise abandoned products. Pieces vary in price but for a rough idea, 'Stella Marie Parmigiani' (the deer pictured above) costs £50.
More information and the range can be seen online
