As part of the Brave Fixed World programme, international guest makers were invited to take over the makerspace and run a series of workshops using their innovative skills and materials.

Heleen Klopper, the inventor of Woolfiller came to Łódź Design Festival to share her invention. Participants were invited to bring their own clothes and cloths to fix, or embellish using 21st century darning techniques.

Repairing can become more than maintenance and Heleen Klopper sees it as an opportunity for creativity.  Woolfiller enables almost anyone to repair holes and redesign their clothes by interlocking colourful felt into the weave with a barbed needle over a foam pad. This simple easy-to-use needle felting kit allows people to bring back to use moth-eaten loved jumpers and other textile belongings such as rugs. The confidence built from the immediate successful repair generates confidence and a more cared-for personalised world. Klopper was part of Platform21 a Dutch design platform aiming to positively influence the relationship between user and product that operated between 2006 and 2010.

 

Lotte Dekker from Humade traveled with boxes full of New Kintsugi Kits to run a repair workshop with the Łódź Design Festival visitors. Participants were invited to bring broken cherished plates and cups for a fix session.

Celebrating the fix rather than hiding the repair is not a new idea. The New Kintsugi kit is an adaptation of a 15th century Japanese technique for fixing broken pottery with gold. The Kit developed by Humade for easy application uses golden glue to highlight the lines of the break and give repair an aesthetic value.

The Dutch company Humade sees repair as a creative challenge. Their innovative materials and techniques are purposefully easy to use to encourage people to fix their things whilst inviting their creative response.