MADRID – Wearing a white lab coat, a screwdriver in hand, Mr Antonio Martínez Rivas examines a remote-controlled car at his workshop in Madrid, a “toy hospital” that is about to close its doors after 50 years of repairs.
Lit by a neon light and surrounded by tools and spare parts, his workbench is in the corner of a veritable Aladdin’s cave with thousands of colourful toys packing shelves that reach from floor to ceiling. “Some tell me: ‘Don’t change it’. And if you want to put new stuffing in, they tell you to leave what’s already there because that’s part of the toy’s essence,” he said.A woman holds a “Pepin” antique doll at the “Hospital del Juguete”, in Madrid on Dec 20, 2022. PHOTO: AFP“I bought him as a present for my mother-in-law years ago and, after she died, we kept him because we’re very fond of him,” smiled Mr Hinojal, who works in tourism.
“It’s a real art, and we’re leaving with a sense of nostalgia and sadness but also really glad that we were able to come,” she said, adding that she’d seen a small slide projector and a papier mache horse like the ones she had as a child.Learning to value toys “When I came back from school when I was 12 or 13, I would finish my homework and sit with him at his workbench and learn how to do it,” he said, recalling how he learnt woodwork, arts and crafts, clockmaking, mechanics and electrics.From customers to friends
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