by Victoria Abbott Riccardi

Across from a new green-and-red Fuji film store sat a small restaurant in a decrepit old building offering dusty plastic models of tempura-topped rice bowls and fat rice-stuffed omelets belted with ketchup. The eatery appeared more distressing than appealing, at least on the surface.

The Japanese believe that beauty can reside in things that are rustic, withered, faded, simple, imperfect or incomplete. This aesthetic concept applies to people, as well as things, and stems from the words wabi and sabi. The spirit of wabi tends to be inward and subjective and often refers to a path or way of life, while sabi generally pertains to material objects, art literature, and external events. A monk living in self-imposed isolation in the woods, for example, embodies wabi because he coexists with nature in a state that is physically impoverished but rich in spirit. The restaurant with its dusty models had a sabi quality because, by being housed in a crumbling wooden building next to a modern business, it evoked the corroded elegance of another era, like an antique kimono in a closet of designer wear.

On the way back from brunch, this very modern couple decided to check out the antique shop up the hill from Cole and Parnassus. We were lured in by the idea of buying furniture — something we desperately need. Sadly, this shop is more along the lines of a bauble dealer to grannies and hipsters. The boy was owed a treat, so we browsed through vintage shaving kits (too S&M for his taste), leather-cased binoculars (more his father’s speed) and cookware that proved too scattered and dingy for our needs.

As I was about to abort the mission my eye caught a beautiful collection of vintage buttons, sewn to a card and stashed in the back of a locked display case. I couldn’t leave without them.

Sewing class, my quest to make a decent handbag, various projects and queer soft pets. I’ve got a million uses for these things.

It prompted some exploration, so here are some great options for starting your own button stash:

Button tin offerings in summer pinks and greens, blues and rose, retro reds, live greens, citrus, fancy b&w deco and caramel browns.

If card collections are more your thing, check out these bakelite cards.

Touching, an Etsy found this much-loved card collection of cloth buttons via an old woman who had been collecting for many years.

Consider these bright standouts if you only need a few.

When my dog sleeps with her mouth open