repaircafe.JPG

Repair cafes, like last month's pilot event on Last Thursday, feature volunteers who know how to fix things, such as Julie Derrick (center) of JD's Shoe Repair, working under the watchful eye of Kendra Chatburn.

(Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian)

By Carrie Sturrock

Broken vacuum cleaner? Buy a new one, right?

Same for a busted toaster oven, iron, rice cooker, blender or clock. After all, the last time you noticed a repair shop for small appliances and gadgets was ... when?

"The repair culture has taken a beating over the last 40 years," said Bryce Jacobson, a senior waste reduction planner with Metro who volunteered at Portland's first "Repair Cafe" pilot event at Last Thursday on Alberta last month, a small case of screwdriver bits opened before him. "The price of a new item is so low."

So low the Metro transfer station receives plenty of discarded things in which one small, repairable part is broken.

But there's an effort underway to empower people to repair broken things. Not just to save money and resources, but to engage with their material goods in a deeper way.

To learn more

In Portland: The next repair event in Portland is 6-9 p.m. Thursday at Ford Food & Drink, 2505 S.E. 11th Ave., No. 101. There will be repairs for bikes, jewelry, small appliances and ripped garments.

In San Francisco: For more on Fixit Clinic in the Bay Area, go to

.

Repair cafes started in 2009 in the Netherlands and variations are appearing across Europe and the U.S.:

Fixit Clinic in the San Francisco Bay Area, the

and the Hennepin County Minnesota Fix-It Clinics, among others.

But in 2003, years before any of those materialized,

in California started posting free online repair manuals for repairing Apple products and other small appliances. Wiens said the repair culture finally has steady momentum, fostering the growth of the fixing events.

New products such as smartphones and computers are appearing at such a furious pace many people don't have the time or patience to learn the latest iteration's ways, Wiens said.

And often manufacturers erect barriers to fixing something with stern warnings and proprietary fasteners. New products also often lack the quality of their predecessors. Wiens' office bought a new sewing machine so poorly made, colleagues replaced it with a $20 Goodwill find.

"We're taking control and owning our things rather than just consuming them," Wiens said. "If you can't fix it, you don't really own it. You're just possessing it a little while until it passes on."

The grass-roots effort to build Portland's repair culture kicked off publicly at the Last Thursday event: one person brought a sewing machine for on-the-spot mending,

taught people how to polish and preserve their footwear, and Jacobson had his toolkit. Repair PDX includes individuals, the Community Supported Everything, the Reuse Alliance, Metro, the city of Portland and others.

The next big event is Thursday at

on Southeast Division, and the group is spreading the word that those who fix and those with stuff to fix should show up.

"I think a lot of people are afraid of breaking stuff," said Lauren Gross, one of the lead organizers, who saw her first repair cafe in Amsterdam in 2011. But "if it's already broken ... at the very least, you can take it apart and see what's wrong."

That's the mantra of Peter Mui, who started the

in 2009 and has since fostered 50 events, including ones in Boston, Knoxville, Tenn., and Medford.

At a fundamental level, fix-it clinics give people "permission that it's OK to open their darn thing that's broken anyway," he said.

Mui, who went on to become an MIT-trained engineer, remembers dismantling his father's broken windup alarm clock when he was in middle school. Although he never did get it ticking again, he learned so much about the inner workings of the clock it didn't matter.

The main goal, he said, is to demystify technology so society as a whole can make better policy choices going forward, whether its about stem cell research or unmanned aerial vehicles.

"Ask the average person how broadcast TV works and they don't understand it," he said. "Fix-it clinic is an accessible place where people can get a sense of how things work. The tag line: guided disassembly of your broken stuff."

It benefits the environment by cutting back on the raw material and energy needed to make new things. But Mui said it also helps a household's bottom line.

"Why are you buying a new toaster oven every three years?" he said. "We have enough toaster ovens and toasters for every household in the U.S. now if we can keep the ones we have working and not send them to the landfill."

Fixit Clinic is focused on teaching people how to repair their stuff while the European repair cafes seem to rely on handy types to fix things for those who don't know how. Portland's group is still figuring out its model.

The city does hold fix-it fairs, but those are different, covering topics ranging from food and nutrition to yard care and composting. Alicia Polacok, residential outreach coordinator for Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, also volunteered at last month's pilot to see how the city might get involved in the new endeavor; ideally, fixing events could rotate through different neighborhoods, she said.

held its first fix-it clinic last September and has since moved it to a different city each month. About 20-25 volunteers help people fix toasters, blenders, coffee makers, toys, DVDs, printers, laptops, mixers, paper shredders, jewelry, ripped clothing and more, said Nancy Lo, who does waste reduction and recycling for Hennepin County.

"Where do you take a (broken) iron?" she said. "There's no shop to take a broken iron."

Portland already has a repair ethic. There's

, for example, which teaches people to repair and refurbish computers. And a number of bicycle shops host free repair events where people can fix their bikes alongside others. The Community Cycling Center has a bike expert on hand from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Saturdays to assist with repairs.

But there's been no catchall repair event where people can bring the many different things that break or rip. Ford Food & Drink co-owner Becky Doggett said she's thrilled to host the repair function Thursday in her vast space that hosts a big fundraising or community event every third Thursday. Not long ago, she broke the wooden handle of her pitchfork, and her local hardware store said fixing it would require a new handle plus labor, making it more expensive than a new $40 pitchfork. She plans to bring other broken tools to the repair event.

"It's crazy it costs more to get the tool fixed," she said. "Would an old broom handle work?"

Katie Pichette, who volunteered at the Last Thursday pilot, brought a vintage quilted skirt that needed a new zipper and resizing. Within 30 minutes, other volunteers had ripped out the old zipper, put in a new one and fitted the skirt.

Fixing something often isn't as difficult as people think it will be.

--

is a Portland freelance writer