Repair-ED: A repair cafe
Published 26 October 2021
RepairED: A repair cafe.
On Saturday, 16 October 2021 we joined forces with our friends at Hopper-Refill to deliver our first-ever joint repair cafe.
First off, what is a repair cafe?
It’s all in the name. A repair cafe is a place for people to meet up and repair things together. It’s a place where you find the tools, materials and experienced volunteers to help you make any repairs you need. There’s often coffee, tea and snacks on hand as well as many great conversations to be had.
About our repair cafe
Here’s a sneak peek into the happenings of the day.
Close to 200 people attended our repair cafe. They enjoyed fixing a range of items from clothing, to sharpening chain saws, to lamps to a teddy bear that had lived many lives.
The event was held in tandem with the launch of Repair Cafe Aotearoa (RCANZ) on International Repair Day. Overall, it was designed to showcase the mahi in the repair/remake space in Wellington and facilitate meaningful connections and future collaborations through presentations, interactive stands, and of course - host a repair cafe.
Our speakers active in the Community Benefits of Repair space:
Tessa Coppard ReBicycle EkeRua – upcycling/repairing bikes for community benefit.
Shelali Shetty and the team from Tip Shop Wellington – leaders for a waste-free future.
Francine Corhumel Hopper-Refill – Repair Cafes and waste reduction.
Our speakers active in Repair Education:
Nigel Scott, MakeRoom - a maker space providing a place where kids can create, invent and learn alongside experienced makers.
Shannon Couper, Sustainability Trust’s Volunteer Coordinator - the importance of volunteers.
Omelia lliffe, Fab Lab Wgtn, Massey University - empowering students to make almost anything - while instilling core values of inclusivity and sustainability.
Our speakers active in Producer Responsibility:
Bernadette Casey, Usedfully – creating circular solutions for textiles.
Tim Findlay, RemarkIT – refurb and redistribution of unwanted electronics and the employment opportunities they’ve created.
Ryan and Grayson, Recycle a Device (RAD) – students from Aotea College spoke about high school students learning in-demand tech engineering skills to refurbish laptops, and working with community groups to get them into the hands of ākonga (students) and rangatahi (young people) who need them.
Filling the breaks between the speaker spotlight sessions ConsumerNZ held repair demonstrations for various household products commonly disposed of, yet so easily repairED by you! Our interactive stands created opportunities for community engagement and awareness and provided a place for stand holders to learn more about the various contributions that groups are making in the repair and remake space.
Our interactive stand holders:
Newtown Tool Library - Newtown Tool Library is a lending library for tools of all sorts. We are located at the Newtown Community Centre and run by volunteers.
Mechanical Tempest – Wellington’s community bike workshop. You can fix your bike, build one out of our bits and pieces, and learn about what you need to do to keep your bike running smoothly and safely.
Tip Shop Wellington – One person’s trash is another's treasure, giving a second life to unwanted stuff.
Tony Willis from Sustainability Trust – Tony harvests leads, cables and computer parts for reuse in repair.
Fab Lab Wellington, Massey University – hacked an 80’s knitting machine and demonstrated how old tech can become new tech.
The Curtain Bank Sustainability Trust – rescuing old curtains, repairing and repurposing to low socioeconomic communities.
MakeRoom Wellington – demonstrated the kinds of projects and skills learned through participating in Science/Sustainability Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM).
ConsumerNZ – repair demonstrations for common faults in household appliances. Listen to Dr. Paul Smith’s Right to Repair Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin here.
One of the biggest drawcards to the day was the Repair Café run by Hopper and staffed by some extremely talented volunteers. Around 45 items were repaired by the Repair Café for small electrical goods, textiles and woodwork including clothes, accessories, toys, kitchen items and tools.
For the items that couldn’t be fixed by the expert volunteers due to time or complexity, advice was given on how to fix themselves or where the item could be fixed in Wellington.
The event excitement reached as far North as Ōtaki and as far west as Featherston and we were graced by the presence of staff and volunteers from Energise Ōtaki Repair Cafe and Ā Mua -Featherston’s reuse centre
Suffice to say that RepairED has fulfilled a heap of promise and has generated greater community engagement, curiosity and collaboration in the Wellington repair/remake movement. We recognise that accessibility to repair and repair education is limited so watch this space – Sustainability Trust, Hopper, ConsumerNZ and many more collaborators have big plans – there'll be more RepairED action coming Wellington’s way!
This repair cafe was made possible thanks to funding from our pals at Wellington City Council.
