Investigate, diagnose, repair.
With his white coat and a screwdriver as a scalpel, Antonio Martínez Rivas examines a remote-controlled car in his "
toy hospital
" in Madrid, a unique workshop that will close its doors after half a century of repairs.
With a concentrated gaze behind his glasses, this passionate 70-year-old “
doctor
”, who will retire on December 31, is busy on his operating table a few days before the last Christmas in his workshop.
"
Now it's me they're going to fix
," this moustachioed, gravelly-voiced man tells a client, alluding to the third cancer he's battling.
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Lit by pale neon and surrounded by tools and spare parts, his operating table forms the corner of a veritable Ali Baba's cave where thousands of colorful toys overflow from the shelves to the ceiling.
Dolls, board games, stuffed animals, wooden horses sent by Spanish customers but also from France, the United Kingdom, Portugal and even Uruguay: his workshop is also a time machine.
And this, until the beginning of the last century.
“
We were the only ones to dedicate ourselves to (the restoration) of any type of toy
” in Spain, affirms this Madrilenian, who learned with his father a trade “
that we do not teach in any academy
”.
Nostalgic customers
The curious come from all over Spain to see the “toy hospital”.
OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP
A practice that has found a buyer.
The customers "
who come the most are adults who are nostalgic for what they had as children
", observes Antonio Martínez Rivas.
"
Some tell me 'don't change it, if you put new stuffing, find the same one because that's the spirit of the toy'
" when "
others talk to their doll
", he observes seriously , before being interrupted by a customer.
David Hinojal, 40, came to collect a stuffed monkey that screams when pressed on its stomach.
"
It's a gift that I brought back to my mother-in-law
", from a trip to Mexico, "
and to which we are very attached
", confides, with a smile, this employee in the tourism sector.
The workshop where the magic happens also attracts the curious.
Some sometimes cross the whole of Spain to see Antonio's workshop.
This is the case of Julia Fernandez, who came from Barcelona with her husband.
“
We learned that the toy hospital was going to close
” and “
we thought it was super interesting to visit
it,” she explains.
"
It's an art and we come out with nostalgia
" from her shop, marvels this 60-year-old teacher who saw in the workshop a small slide projector and a papier-mâché horse similar to those of her childhood. .
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A family adventure
The repair shop will close on December 31, 2022. OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP
About fifty years old.
It's the time Antonio spent repairing toys and stuffed animals.
"
It's a shame that it closes (...) because it's a way to recycle toys, not to consume more
," said David Hinojal.
“
We have to give a value to the toy
” because “
if we continue like this, the waste will overwhelm us
”, adds Antonio Martínez Rivas, who puts an end, with this closure, to a family adventure.
His father had opened a small artisanal toy factory in 1945 before gradually converting to repairs in the face of the massive arrival of plastic toys in the 1950s and 1960s, which he was unable to produce.
"
When I came back from college, around 12-13 years old, I finished my homework and I sat down with (my father) at the work table, to learn
"a profession made up of DIY, arts and crafts, watchmaking , mechanics or electricity, he recalls.
Antonio, who took over from his father in the 1970s and has no employees, for his part had to cope with the arrival of video games, which led to a decline in interest in toys. traditional.
“
Now they are all with the tablet, the mobile or the console
”, he regrets.
None of his three children wanted to take over the business and the few interns who had worked in the shop understood "
that it doesn't pay
", he laments, referring to a meager salary of "
8 to 10 euros in the hour
".
"
After so many years of work, all you leave are emotions and sadness, because there are a lot of customers who are no longer just customers but friends
," he says. , head down.
In tribute, his friends, who help him voluntarily, posted a sign behind the counter: here, "
we sell (almost) everything
" except "
the chef
".
