Lucie Rie: A Secret Life of Buttons • V&A Blog
— Read on www.vam.ac.uk/blog/news/lucie-rie-a-secret-life-of-buttons

I wrote about a button for our memory piece in the writing workshop.

Remembered object

Button.

It had an anchor on it. It had lines, scribed horizontally across the french brass surface, blackened for effect. The button was attached to black and white checked cotton surface, some small dungarees my mother was sewing for my shaggy white teddy with blue eyes.

Id sneaked downstairs to get the teddy I missed it. The telly was on and she was in the kitchen. I snuck my hand through the gap on to the sofa where the needle basket lay, teddy and black and white fabric topped the pile with the button on top I grasped the button and dragged it through the gap. Pain shot through my body. I looked, I felt surprised at the bright red blood, I could hear my mother’s voice, maybe on the phone, over the tv presenters voice quietly talking in the background.

I don’t remember if I dropped my haul or not but I remember the taste of blood in my mouth as I sucked my finger and took the stairs two at a time back up to bed on the top floor where my bedroom lay waiting.