Spitalfields Market portraits

Matthew Mcfarlane enjoys the community here as much as the selling. 'I can leave my stall unattended and no one will touch it.' Matthew contends his stall offers him a day off from his work as a set builder and designer of shop windows. 'There is something hauntingly beautiful about dishevelled furniture, left to waste, yet with so much more to give' Photograph: Jeremy Freedman/Spitalfields Life

Sonoe Sugawara holds an exquisite nineteenth century girl's silk undergarment. Sonoe originally sold vintage English clothes from a stall in a Tokyo department store and now has a business selling kimonos in London too, moving back and forth two or three times a year with a full suitcase in both directions. 'My boyfriend's great-grandparents were dealers before the war, collecting nineteenth and early twentieth century kimonos' Photograph: Jeremy Freedman/Spitalfields Life

Mr Singh is modelling a dress sword which belonged to the lieutenant general to the Tower of London between 1880-90, that was once presented to Lord Chelmsford. 'I must differentiate myself from the general public and I do it by an emphasis on quality,' explained Mr Singh Photograph: Jeremy Freedman/Spitalfields Life

Stuart grew up in Exmouth Market. 'My father was a market trader and I used to do Hoxton market when I was five. I've been here all my life and I paid cheap rent, but all of a sudden you've got to earn £400/500 a week to live here. I'm homeless now. I'd rather sleep in my van than pay £200 rent a week. I like to come with a new pitch each week. I was brought up with markets. I've done other things and come back. I've got the Gypsy blood in me,' declared Stuart, an aristocrat among traders, who drives around all week, discovering new things to sell in Spitalfields Photograph: Jeremy Freedman/Spitalfields Life

Lily Beth Wood is Stuart's daughter. She enjoys helping out her dad on his stall, while on holiday from St Peter's School, in Wapping where she lives. 'I collect small things when the tide goes out,' said Lily, outlining her mudlarking activities on the banks of the Thames. 'Sometimes I find old ship's nails, bones, oyster shells, bullets, book hinges and once I found a clay pipe in three pieces' Photograph: Jeremy Freedman/Spitalfields Life

Richard Rags and his son Cosmo Wise, both dressed head to toe in the clothing that is their passion. They cherish the extravagantly worn-out old togs full of vibrant character and handmade details no modern garment can ever match. Cosmo is now copying his most treasured finds in old fabric, sold under his own label DE RIEN. 'We are drowning in clothes, clothes dripping from the ceiling, even beds made of clothes.' he revealed divulging the singular living conditions at their clothing warehouse in Hackney Wick Photograph: Jeremy Freedman/Spitalfields Life

George Cossingto is an ex-steeplejack. 'I've always loved old tools, but I thought, 'If you sell 'em, who's going to buy 'em?' So I bought a polishing machine and I bring them back to life'
Photograph: Jeremy Freedman/Spitalfields Life