Brendan Esposito - humans of 2484
Brendan’s excited about the future premises of “A Tinker’s Cuss” in Uki’s CBD. He takes pride in continuing the tinkering tradition in his community. A tradition starting with the wandering fix-it people of ancient times, and culminating in the king of all trades, blacksmithing.
He learned the craft from his father, an aircraft engineer who moved the family around with the Air Force. They lived frugally. Brendan made and sold quality knives from the age of 16. His dad made him make everything by hand, learning the value of the right tools, and then the right machinery when he was able to use it.
The throw-away society is discussed with disdain. If it’s broke, can he fix it? If not, what can he turn it into? He looks back rather than forward, where we came from, what can be conserved, the skills we might have lost.
An interest in tools and mechanics led him to nursing from the age of 19. He’s enjoyed providing care in many settings, including the hospitals and oncology wards of the Tweed Shire.
Brendan moved to the area 12 years ago, for love, his partner Carla living here. He’d had enough of living in a city, wanting to be where people were open to new, and old, ideas, and knowing your neighbours is important.
You won’t just have your knives and tools fixed. He’ll teach you to how fix and sharpen them. Disconnected from the basic tools of existence, we now find things too complex to fix. But tools are extensions of our bodies, part of our lived experience, and we can reconnect to them. This is service, not business, and Brendan encourages different ways of trading, like barter.
Working at “The Small School”, focused on play-based experiential learning in a democratic environment, is another way he develops the community’s sense of collaboration and mutual exchange.
A writer and a poet, he was a recent editor of “Uki News”. He also incorporates yoga practice into his work, noting how his sharpening improved with yoga... yet another tool.
He loves the sense of place. He’s moved around enough.
(Interview and story by David Neely)
