Hi. I’m Elisabeth Dunker of the blog Fine Little Day and I’m happy to be guest blogging this week on Design Sponge. In Gothenburg, Sweden where I live I have a studio together with artist Camilla Engman, Studio Violet. You can also find me / my work over at Lula, which is a common web platform for a bunch of great talents, also from Sweden. When I’m not working with Studio Violet or freelancing assignments I amuse myself with treasure hunting for my Fine Little Shop. I’m going to start this week with a little tribute to that – my passion for vintage and second hand.

When I was little my mother often took me to country auctions. I can still remember the tingle feeling in my stomach when I was about to open the just bought “surprise box”. Always a lot of fun for a little amount of money – a passion was born.

An artist colleague of mine, Lena Sjöberg, found this fabulous dress on a second hand store in the little village where she lives and immediately fell in love. She wrote on her blog: “Found this dress in a second hand shop some days ago. Instant love! The fabric is hand printed and the dress is tailor made, one copy, with nice details, as the removable upperpart and the clothed buttons. Came home, tried it on, couldn’t wear it! Grrr…

So Lena kind enough gave it away, which I´m very grateful for. It is the most beautiful dress in my wardrobe. Splendid handicraft details, and the Egyptian style pattern is hand printed! So far I´ve used it twice. I have a feeling it will be with me on many more happy occasions.

I visit auctions and second hand stores, several times a week. Not always to buy stuff but also to gather inspiration. I like the feeling of that there´s a history in the things. And of course the thrilling feeling not to know what to find out there. This very beautiful old Swedish hand woven tapestry I stumbled on by chance at a small neighborhood flea market. The woman who sold it told me a sweet story about her great grandmother, who was the one who had made it. Probably one of the nicest pieces I’ve ever sold in the shop.

CLICK HERE for the rest of Elisabeth’s post (and more beautiful finds) after the jump!

This native indian style blanket is an all time favorite, a keeper.

Another treasure is this hand painted coffe set, we have a lot of coffe cups (and I don´t even drink coffe), but these ones I will keep too.

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