Broken : Mending and repair in a throwaway world
• This book shows how the broken can be as beautiful or valuable as the new
• Topics such as sustainability and the circular economy have never been more urgent
• Lavishly illustrated with over 200 illustrations and behind-the-scene shots
• Includes inspiring makers, artists and designers from around the globe
We live in a single-use society, where fashion is fast, disposability is the norm and it is easier to replace than to repair. We don't need to mend things anymore – and yet we do. What is it about Homo faber – man the maker – that cannot resist fixing what is broken? As we start to decouple from the linear take-make-waste model that has dominated Western economies since the Industrial Revolution and seek something more circular, an enquiry into what mending means has never been more urgent. With a foreword by The Repair Shop's Jay Blades, this new book by craft and circularity advocate Katie Treggiden celebrates 25 artists, curators, designers and makers who have rejected the allure of the fast, disposable and easy in favor of the patina of use, the stories of age and the longevity of care and repair. Accompanying these profiles, six in-depth essays explore the societal, cultural and environmental roles of mending in a throwaway world.