A New Old Friend...

Walking down Marine Drive in West Vancouver the other day I came across a tailor shop that was closing it's doors... London Tailors. The sign on the door said they had been in business for 50 years, that is amazing! Most multinational corporations don't last that long...
I walked in to introduce myself and meet the tailor, Dominic Palia and realized we were old friends who had never met before. I am fascinated by people like Dominic, he has worked hard his whole life to make suits, to make clothes, to do alterations so he could feed and raise his family. He has honed his craft and become a master. I was in awe of this man, he had a power I am not sure he knew he possessed. In our current Iphone driven state of facebook and twitterphoria, talking to this man about his history was like a breath of real air. I talked to him a little, looked around his shop until my eyes settled on a black machine with an oily leathery finish in the back of the shop. A baster, chain stitch, Singer as old as the hills. I wasn't sure what I wanted more, did  I want a piece of his history in my shop or did I actually want a basting machine? Probably both, but more the former. This machine has a story, and it will live on in our shop. 

I am fortunate to have met Dominic, but a sadness fell over me for over a week after meeting with him. Was I projecting ideas sentimentally into my own unkown future or was I lamenting the fact that in today's world there are so few like Dominic, or even people to carry on the torch that his generation wanted to pass onto us? We are not only losing many of these people in our community, our valuable elders, but we are slowly losing their character, their work ethic, the very fabric that has held community together is unravelling and people like Dominic were the threads that held it all together.

 Maybe it is unfair of me to project this upon him, maybe he just wanted to go home and have a lasagna or something, but I really felt this very strongly. Interesting that he said to me something that echoed  a sentiment, something another master tailor had once shared with me " Being a tailor you won't be rich, but you'll be happy..." I knew exactly what he meant. I thank him for touching my life in that way, amazing the people you meet.

And sadly as if some kind of a sign I learned as well of the passing of another master Tailor, Angelo Papa from Angelo's on Commercial Drive. I remember going into his shop to buy lengths of cloth for my pants, he would look at me with this look on his face...YOU SEW? Life is fleeting, enjoy it.

Thank You Dominic.