Repair Cafes

Author: Alex Roche

Short Summary

Repair cafes are community spaces where people gather to fix everyday objects such as clothes, electronics, mechanical devices, and bicycles. It is an international grassroots movement that “aims to reduce waste, overconsumption, and planned obsolescence. It can reignite do-it-together and ‘Do it yourself’ spirits and strengthen social cohesion” (source).

Website address: www.repaircafe.org/en/

Location: There are over 2,200 repair cafes worldwide, mostly located in the Global North (source)

Founder: Martine Postma

Logo. source

Profile

The repair cafe is a type of commoning project that is focused on reducing product waste while strengthening community cohesion. Participants typically gather at community locations like churches, community centers, etc. to repair their broken everyday items. Volunteers are there with free access to the necessary tools and resources such as DIY (Do-it-Yourself) books to help people make their repairs. You can attend a repair cafe if you need something fixed, if you want to read up on how to fix an everyday item, or if you want to offer your repair expertise.

There are over 2,200 repair cafes worldwide, in countries such as Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, India, and Japan. The about section on the organization’s website states, “Repair cafes form a worldwide movement that strives to preserve repair skills in society and to promote more repairable products.”

So much waste happens around the globe, especially when objects break; people forget many of these things can be repaired, so they end up being replaced. Repair cafes aspire to remind people that repairs are often possible and encourage resourcefulness, prompting them to seek assistance from their neighbors.

“It is also about commoning the tools, spaces, knowledge, and skills. For instance, instead of everyone buying their own sewing machine from the market, sharing and commoning the private-owned one would take place in a repair cafe. In terms of knowledge and skill sharing, the individuals who join the repair cafe workshops are usually happy to help others to repair broken items and teach what they know about repairing as well. They would also make the enclosed knowledge accessible to their members through hacking practices with no regard to the copyright.” (source)
The Repair Cafe Foundation does not compete with local repair specialists. The organizers of the cafes aim to highlight the fact that items are repairable and that throwing things away is not the only option when they break. Visitors are often advised to seek out local professionals, when they might instead just toss something out.

Repair Cafe Amsterdam-West source

Governance

Each repair cafe venue is locally governed and supported by the Repair Cafe Foundation. All repair cafes must be run on a voluntary and non-commercial basis. Individuals, or groups of individuals, can opt to start their own repair cafe in their community by purchasing a starter kit and agreeing to the organization’s terms and conditions. The starter kit provides a manual with everything you need to know about initiating a cafe, including resources to identify local repair experts, find a location, create publicity, etc.

Projects

Friends & Partners

  • iFixit Europe: Provides the general public with resources to troubleshoot broken gadgets as well as obtain quality parts and tools
  • MAIF: A French insurance company that uses a mutual, people-centric insurance model
  • FixPart: An international company specializing in the sale of 15,000,000 different parts and accessories from more than 2,000 brands
  • Repair cafe’s full list of partners

Finances

Repair Cafe Foundation’s activities are financially supported by the DOEN Foundation and the Adessium Foundation, among others (source).

Origin Story

The repair cafe was created by Martine Postma, who had been working in sustainability since 2007. She started the first repair cafe in Amsterdam in 2009, and from its great success came the establishment of the Repair Cafe Foundation in 2011.

See Also

  • Other commons categories that are related to this one's, or specific similar examples

Sources

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