Repair Café: Beginnings and Concepts
Why a Repair Café?
We throw away vast amounts of stuff. Even things with almost nothing wrong, and which could get a new lease on life after a simple repair. The trouble is, lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves or they no longer know how. Knowing how to make repairs is a skill quickly lost. Society doesn’t always show much appreciation for the people who still have this practical knowledge, and against their will they are often left standing on the sidelines. Their skills are rarely used.
The Repair Café changes all that! People who might otherwise be sidelined are getting involved again. Valuable, practical knowledge is getting passed on. Things are being used for longer and don’t have to be thrown away. This reduces the volume of raw materials and energy needed to make new products. It cuts CO2 emissions, for example, because manufacturing new products and recycling old ones causes CO2 to be released.
The Repair Café teaches people to see their possessions in a new light, and to, once again, appreciate their value. The Repair Café helps change people’s mindset. This is essential to kindle people’s enthusiasm for a sustainable society. But most of all, the Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is. Why don’t you give it a go?
Who thought up the idea?
The Repair Café was initiated by Martine Postma. Since 2007, she has been striving for sustainability at a local level in many ways - as a journalist, publicist, local politician, entrepreneur, citizen, and consumer. Her special focus has always been to decrease the amount of waste we produce as a society.
When and where was the very first Repair Café held?
The first Repair Café was held in October 2009 in Amsterdam West. Martine Postma organized this – initially one time – meeting in cooperation with the Municipality of Amsterdam.
How did it continue after the first meeting?
The very first Repair Café was so successful that Martine Postma continued the endeavor. In 2010, she organized several Repair Café meetings at different locations in Amsterdam. These caught the attention of more and more people and the media all over the country. That is why Martine decided to establish a project that would give the Repair Café a footing all over the Netherlands and beyond. This project has led to Repair Cafés being organized in many hundreds of places all over the world. And that number is growing daily!
When and by whom was the Repair Café Foundation founded?
Martine Postma founded the Repair Café Foundation in March 2010. The foundation is based in Amsterdam.
What are the goals of the Repair Café Foundation?
Repair Café Foundation aims to a) reintroduce the art of repairing to the modern, local communities; b) retain and spread repair knowledge and skills; c) to promote social cohesion by bringing together neighbors from very different backgrounds and motives in a setting of inspiring and accessible meetings.