Centromerkur Gumb Ljubljana

Crochet and knitting is becoming popular again. Maybe it's thanks to hipsters who decided to rip up their Grandma's dresses and make something new and hip out of them. Or people are just resisting consumerist tendencies of the big brand clothing industry by making soft and warm clothes of the yarn themselves, and enjoying doing it. However strange and difficult the process of making stuff from thread may seem, I'm also a fan of crochet hooks. My friends' wallets, hats and scarves are proof of that.

Playing with the yarn is especially (time)friendly while traveling or riding long distances, as it can occupy your hands and mind, and a way of making contacts and produce an outcome in the end. Problems arise when you lose a knitting needle, crochet hook or you've used all the yarn. Well, not in Ljubljana. Hidden on the corner of a too-big-and-glamorous shopping mall in the city center lies a small shop with everything a contemporary dressmaker needs: needles, hooks, threads, wool and synthetic yarns, linens, buttons, thimbles and others.

It's one of the last remaining stores that was part of the first Ljubljana department store called Centromerkur, built in Viennese Secession style. Long after the fall of the socialistic regime it retained the feeling of intimacy and peace without the turbo capitalistic bombardment of too many choices. So when in need to fix clothes, buttons or buy yarn, know that some of the products do have interesting stories from the past long forgotten times.