The Big Fix

Hackney Fixers held Hackney's first festival of fixing at St Mark’s Dalston, on 21st November from 11am to 4pm. Attended by over 150 people the Big Fix was a great success and people are already asking about the next event.

THE BIG FIX featured a clothing repair workshop with Barley from Fabrications, a chair repair surgery with Amanda from The School of Stuff, cycle repairs with Hackney Bike Workshop, and a Restart Party for broken gadgets with fixers from the Restart Project. More pictures HERE.

Traid showed people how to make moth deterrents, EcoACTIVE was making useful things from rubbish, Sustainable Hackney mapped repair places in Hackney, and Hackney’s recycling team answered questions on waste prevention and re-use. There were demonstrations of chair repair techniques from The School of Stuff, and of Sugru, an innovative mouldable repair product from a Hackney company.

We are grateful to all our partners and our wonderful volunteers for helping us make this event possible and to London Borough of Hackney for funding the event.

WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THE BIG FIX?

	The Restart Project was founded by pioneers Ugo Vallauri and Janet Gunter in 2012 and aims to “fix our relationship with electronics” From small beginnings they have created a worldwide movement with Restart Parties happening all over the UK and as far afield as Italy, Japan and Canada. The Restart Project The Restart Project has been a key partner for Hackney Fixers since 2013 when they inspired us to start running Restart Parties in Hackney.
	Fabrications is a shop, studio and gallery in Broadway Market run by Barley Massey. Fabrications has a regular programme of local workshops on clothing repair and upcycling as well as providing repair and upcycling products. Fabrications
	The School of Stuff is a studio dedicated to teaching furniture crafts in Dalston. Amanda Girling-Budd runs a programme of repair and making workshops at the school including upholstery, furniture restoration and recycling, cabinet making, chair caning, chair rushing and other crafts. The School of Stuff
	Hackney Bike Workshop runs free drop-in repair workshops every month, two at Hackney City Farm and one at the Round Chapel. Supported by Hackney Cycling Campaign, the workshop teaches cycle repair skills. Hackney Bike Workshop
	ecoACTIVE is an innovative environmental education charity with a reputation for using hands-on, practical approaches to explore complex issues of sustainability. EcoActive envisions a world where young people and communities are agents of change for creating a better planet. We design and deliver interactive workshops to empower people to take meaningful action on sustainability. ecoACTIVE
	TRAID is a charity working to stop clothes from being thrown away. We turn clothes waste into funds and resources to reduce the environmental and social impacts of our clothes. It is a circular and sustainable approach to the problems of clothes waste tackling disposal, production and consumption. The TRAID shop in Dalston runs clothing repair and upcycling workshops. Traid
	Sugru is an innovative mouldable glue repair material created in Hackney. Launched in 2009 Sugru was described as one of the top inventions of 2010 by Time Magazine. Sugru
	The London Borough of Hackney has funded this event through their community grants programme. The recycling team will be offering a number of services to prevent and reuse waste including re-usable nappies, regular “give or take” events, furniture donation for re-use through the Homestore, and no-junk mail packs. Hackney Greener Living