We’re looking up from the captivity of screens to see a wonderful world of analogue alternatives. Real books, handmade homeware and off-grid experiences are everywhere, ready for us to reach out and grab them.
The analogue rebellion started, quietly at first, with hipsters buying film cameras and the wine sippers attending mindful painting and home baking classes. During lockdown, Netflix bingeing was through the roof, but so were sales of knitting needles, power tools and real books, with that lovely bookish smell.
Now we’re out and about once more, the analogue rebellion is forging ahead. We’re craving screen-free fun with our real-life friends, shopping for beneficial bits and bobs sold to us by the craftspeople that make them, and looking for books to fill the ‘rustic’ bookshelves we upcycled using old pallets and the decade-old box of nails in the garage.
Christchurch has some wonderful opportunities to scratch those itches. The Riccarton Market is New Zealand’s largest, with artisans selling locally-made wares. It’s allowed the Rotary Club of Riccarton to put over $2 million back into the community since it started in the late ‘80s. University Bookshop Canterbury stocks a fantastic selection of local and international titles, including the full list of this year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Award winners, as well as bright children’s books on important topics, like the significance of Matariki, and the fight for global equality. And The Colombo Bookstore is doing book shopping the old-fashioned way, with comfy chairs, curated selections and knowledgeable staff who make great recommendations.
With less time spent on digital, we’ve got more time to pursue all those analogue hobbies we’ve always imagined we’d like, and a class could help you get started. Coming to the Arts Centre in November is the Paint ‘n’ Sip Studio, a wonderful arts studio where you can attend classes and paint a picture following instructions from the studio’s talented artists, while sipping a cold glass of Sauv from the in-studio bar. You can also head down to the uber-cool Fiksate Studio & Gallery and join the fortnightly sticker-making classes where you’ll be sure to draw inspo from the vibrant urban art all over the walls. Keep an eye on Fiksate's Instagram for dates.
This year vinyl records have outsold CDs in the USA for the first time since 1986. Closer to home, Hallenstein Brothers Cashel Street has partnered with Real Groovy to open a record shop in the store, where you can flick through crates of records and stock your vinyl collection with new releases and second-hand goodies. In New Regent Street, tiny bar The Institution has board games you can whip out for some screen-free fun over beers with your buddies, and Arcadia in Barbadoes Street is filled with old-skool pinball machines and a pool table. There are some electronic games, but the lag on Ms. Pac-Man is so wonderfully protracted that it seems closer to Go Fish than Fortnite.
For some serious survival skills, enrol in a resourceful skills workshop at Rekindle. You can learn how to make felt slippers, tī kōuka baskets, soap, or your own hand-carved spatula. There are regular beginners’ spoon carving workshops, and once you’ve attended one, you can join spoon club: come back, practice, make more spoons.