Better than new

Sustainability relies on creating furniture and appliances that can be fixed–and the skills to do so,

- Arabella Youens

IN May, a book was published titled Broken: Mending and repair in a throw away world. It tackles the reality that we live in what the author, Katie Treggiden, describes as a ‘single-use society’, where fashion is fast, disposability is the norm and it’s easier to replace than to repair. She traces the linear take-make-waste model that has dominated Western economies back to the Industrial Revolution and champions the need to transform it into something more circular for the good of our planet, and ourselves.

Mending—or the desire to have things mended—is both generational and attitudinal. For some, it’s instinctive. My mother-in-law, born in 1938, has never needed to be lectured about the importance of looking after resources (we’ve come to blows about using margarine to make white sauce; I pointed out that butter rationing ended in 1954). To the distraction of the rest of the family, she has steadfastly held onto the belief that all items can and should be mended and for many years amassed a collection of redundant toasters, kettles and vacuum cleaners. A Belling warming cabinet, which hasn’t warmed a plate since at least 2005, has been repurposed as a storage unit. The problem—and this is one experienced by many—is a blend of not being able to distinguish between what is worth mending (or would be hazardous should an electric current ever pass through it again) and not knowing where the skills lie to have pieces fixed, if they exist at all.