On Saturday 15th December from 18.00-20.00 takes place the first 'Repair Cafe' -type event at Pixelache's new Suvilahti office. Initiated by Päivi Raivio, the event responds to the broken things we would like fixed and working again.

She invited Justin Tyler Tate, artist-maker from Tallinn to come and assist with his technical fixing skills. Other skilled people are welcome to come and help too. This spontaneously-organised event follows on in the theme of this year's Trashlab events, and the inaugural Wärk Festival. If it proves enjoyable and useful, we may even do it again!

The occasion also serves as a Green Drinks Helsinki gathering. See also related Facebook event page.



Päivi cites inspiration from Fixers Collective's open meetings where people gather to learn to fix broken items, devices and other stuff. There are also 'Repair Cafe' named events elsewhere initiated by Martine Postma, with over 30 groups in The Netherlands. As quoted from Kelly McCartney's Shareable article (2012, May 14) on the Repair Cafe fixers movement, Cradle-to-cradle architect William McDonough, whose work also inspired Postma, observed, “What happened with planned obsolescence is that it became mindless — just throw it away and don’t think about it. The value of the Repair Cafe is that people are going back into a relationship with the material things around them.” Another good example we try to follow is that of iFixIt step-by-step repair guides.

The session on this occasion is led by Justin Tyler Tate, artist and maker based in Tallinn. He has been involved with several Trashlab activities this year, is a member of Error Collective, and leads the Fake It 'Til You Make It workshops at Ptarmigan in Tallinn.

Bring an item to fix or just join to observe and learn. Each repairing process will be documented with step-by-step photos, which will be shared online together with detailed information. If you wish to bring a broken object, device or item, please notify us beforehand so that we can source the right tools if possible.

Due to limited space and seat we can aim to fix first 10 person's things who email: paivi.raivio [-at-] gmail.com. The session is free, but we are hoping to collect a small fee for the workshop leader, so please bring some cash for the pay-what-you-can-jar.

Address:
Pixelache office
Kaasutehtaankatu 1, Rakennus/Building 7 [see on map]
00540 Helsinki