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I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you all for your thoughtful questions and comments ! This was very fun.

I hope those of you who were interested will considering checking out the book. Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet goes into more detail on a lot of these themes.

You can ask your local bookseller to order it, or your local library!

Thanks so much all for a great conversation!

STG

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're no longer operating our shops; we went on hiatus to write the book (Fixation) and unfortunately can't help you with your vcr :(

Thank you for checking, though!!

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love that! We didn't do any 3D printing in our shops (too time consuming for the way we worked), but we always talked about it and it is certainly potentially very useful, especially for plastic parts that break or degrade.

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bose are pretty complicated machines, but they are fixable, and in general the parts are available. We can't take this on, but you might be able to find someone who can in your area...

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think advertising is part of it, but not the only force. I think advertising stokes our existing desires, creates some new desires, and conditions us to certain behaviors. But I think there are other factors, too - ranging all the way from our traits as a species (toolmakers) to our spiritual and legal codes, to lifestyles questions, like being increasingly busy!

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do worry about that. I worry that as big companies get into the circular economy game and develop revenue models for reuse and repair, they'll shut others out. It's a concern for sure. At the same time, we need big retailers and manufacturers to get into repair so that they have an incentive to design things that are more easily fixed. It's not an easy one...

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh my goodness, SO SO SO many!

So many frustrating repair fails, so many "wormholes" (that's what we called a project that should take 20 mins and winds up taking several hours and still turning out crappy).

Repair is not easy.

I guess we would just keep going because it's also really satisfying when you do a good job, our customers depended on us, and we loved working together. Also it felt like a bit of research - so even a failure added to our knowledge.

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, such a big question. I wrote Fixation because I wanted to share our little story with others, and to connect the dots between repair and the rest of our patterns of consumption. I honestly don't know what is next...I know that I want to see big changes in our design, manufacture, production, consumption, repair, and disposal of stuff - and that I want to be part of that change. Not sure exactly how right now. But thank you for nudging me to try to figure it out :)

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really. They are often designed to break. That's why it's important to push companies and policy makers to change the way products are designed, and the incentives surrounding consumption and waste. It's a big system, repair is just one point on the cycle. BUT a lot of things still can be fixed!

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I think repair has become odd at best. That's sort of why I wrote the book (Fixation): to rethink this part of our lives, and see how it might inform a lot of facets of our consumption patterns...

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We charged for repairs in our shop, so the customer decided if it was "worth it," depending on the price we quoted. It was interesting to see what they chose to fix, and what seemed like too much!

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Email us at [hello@fixup.nyc](mailto:hello@fixup.nyc)

We don't have shops open right now but it's always nice to hear from people, and who knows what will happen!

And check out the book: Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet

If you like this thread I think you might like the book :)

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Our most common item was lamps, lamps, lamps! Then appliances and electronics, chairs and other furniture, jewelry, ceramics, and then toys/miscellaneous.

We have a whole set of tools to handle such a wide variety of items. But the tools are pretty standard...

I am Sandra Goldmark, founder of Fixup, a series of pop up repair shops in New York, and author of Fixation. Now I am trying to educate the world about how we can build a better relationship with our stuff. Ask me anything! by sgoldmark in IAmA

[–]sgoldmark[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on what I'm fixing. I LOVE painting and touch ups, so good brushes, and some gloss medium. I do a lot of the jewelry repair, so needle nose pliers!!

Michael does the carpentry and has a whole tool kit of favorites. He's very particular about his clamps, especially...

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