How it started
The first official Repair Café happened in October 2009 in Amsterdam, in the Fijnhout Theatre, four months later, the Repair Café Foundation was set up. The foundation was established to give momentum to the movement and make it global. To date there are over 3,618 Repair Cafés globally, run by (an estimated) 54,270 volunteers; it's also estimated that the number of repairs per month around the world is 65,124!
Why supporting Repair Cafe is important to us at Basestation
One of the things that is super important to us at Basestation is sustainability. Where we can, we reduce what we put in landfill or find sustainable alternatives. Being able to offer the Repair Café a venue that’s accessible to people (they run on a Saturday morning, meaning that parking in the city centre is FREE!) aligns with our values.
The sessions take place in our basement which is next to the Tinkd Makerspace, this means there is already a large array of tools and machines available to fix and mend items.
Repair Café recruits volunteers with practical skills to repair and restore broken items, they recognise this is a dying art, and so it’s a great opportunity to train others in these skills. Thanks to efforts such as Repair Café, items are being used for longer, thus reducing the volume of raw materials and energy needed to make new replacement products.
With the growth of initiatives such as Repair Café and a call for more sustainability solutions, this has also pushed laws such as the Right to Repair legislation putting the onus onto manufacturers.
Tauranga Repair Café
The Tauranga Repair Café happens once a month, usually on the last Saturday of the month, and is hosted in our Babbage Event Space. It’s free to book in your item, but you do need to register to go, and it’s limited to one item per household. Items you can take include:
- Small appliances
- Household items
- Computing/small devices
- Wooden items/toys
- Bikes
- Clothing/ sewing mending (no zipper replacements)
This work is supported by a group of volunteers with a wide range of knowledge and expertise!
Not only does the team fix practical things like toasters, vacuum cleaners and ripped tradie work shorts, they also help fix more sentimental precious items like teddy bears, family heirlooms clocks and grandma’s favourite fine bone china mug.
To find out more, go to their website for details on when the next event will be or how to volunteer to help out.