A craftswoman in Stratford, Ont. is preserving precious pieces of family history. Monique Lund creates leather keychains and bookmarks out of vintage military uniform buttons, some of which have been passed down from generation to generation. She got the idea after her husband showed her buttons that had belonged to his father, who served in the Royal Navy during the First World War. Lund, a performing artist who started making jewelry during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially tried turning the buttons into earrings. When that did not work, she found another use for them. “I love the history and the stories behind these buttons,” Lund said. “So, I started doing keychains.” She made five at first and posted the photos to Facebook. Lund said they all sold within an hour. “I get a lot of commissions,” she said of her business now. “People will reach out to me, and they’ll request a certain button.” Lund’s work has grown to include buttons from different military regiments, as well as custom orders using buttons, pips and cap badges supplied by families. “When you collect memorabilia and it just sits in a drawer, or in a box in a drawer, it gets dusty. You might pull it out occasionally.” She also searches for vintage buttons herself, looking through antique stores, military supply shops and online marketplaces. Sometimes, customers ask her to find a button connected to a particular regiment. “A lot of people think that they’re reproduction buttons, and I’m like, no, those are real actual buttons,” Lund said. “They’re tunic buttons or uniform buttons that were worn on the dress uniforms in all the various regiments.” For some of her customers, the keepsakes offer a tangible connection to their relatives who served. Loreen Gibson, who lives in Ottawa, commissioned four keychains using buttons from her grandfather’s Royal Canadian Air Force uniform, which he wore in the Second World War. Her grandfather was a bomber navigator who flew 34 missions over Germany. Gibson was able to track down his original uniform after learning it had been donated to a theatre company in Ottawa. “Growing up, Grandpa always had stories about the war,” she said. “Now that he’s gone – he passed away in 2009 – you just want to hear those stories one more time.” Gibson worked with Lund on the design, choosing the leather colours that matched the Air Force uniform and colours of her grandfather’s bomber. She had one made for each of his three children and one for herself. The plan is to eventually pass them down to the next generation. “It means everything,” Gibson said of the keepsakes. It’s a sentiment shared by Katrina Wasenda, from Hamilton, whose grandfather served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. She reached out to Lund requesting RAF uniform buttons for keychains she eventually gifting to family members and friends. “The emotions that they exhibit go from tears, to quiet, to speechless. This gift means so much,” said Lund. “It’s a fascinating part of our history that I think we should continue to invest in, we should continue to honour, and we should continue to learn about.” Lund is particularly moved by commissions involving heirlooms, because the finished pieces may end up part of the family’s history.
