Buddy restores forgotten treasures
Over the years Durban North resident Buddy Day's work has become legendary in the community.
TINY wood chips gather at the bottom of Durban North resident, Buddy Day’s feet, as his hands intricately begin to carve out the design of one of his famed wooden toy soldiers.
His love of woodwork is evident in every single piece of furniture in his home. However, the 80-year-old resident also shares a passion for turning neglected items into something new and exquisite.
“It is so wonderfully satisfying, to be able to take something that has been damaged or broken, and then to restore it to it’s former glory – to extend it’s history,” he said.
The resident said he noted his talent at the age of six, when he would collect wood bark from the Willow trees near his home in Bedfordview in Gauteng, to carve wooden planes and boats. He did not carve his first soldier, until the age of 40.
“That was when things really took off. I went on to build furniture and later to making old things new again,” he said.
In his 20s, Day was employed as a window dresser where he created beautiful displays at a shopping centre in Johannesburg. He was soon promoted to the animator display team, where he set up the electronic displays for the centre.
When he was promoted to the display manager in 1964, he and his wife Sandy moved to Durban.
The most iconic item that Day had ever restored, he said, was a broken down suit of armour.
“It was disguised as a heap of rusted metal, tied together with an electronic cable, but I could see its potential,” he said.
After two months of gruelling work the suit of armour, which once belonged to Marco Barbarigo, the 73rd Doge of Venice (from 1485 until 1486) was restored to its former glory and now watches over their home from the foyer.
