THE REPAIR ATELIER
ART and DESIGN in REUSE
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LEXICON OF REPAIR

This Lexicon is an extension to the “Lexicon of Repair” from the book Repair: Sustainable Design Futures edited by Markus Berger and Kate Irvin, Routledge 2023, and expands the books 12 samplings of reparative philosophies and methods practiced around the world within different cultures, religions, and languages. Some in this inventory of key concepts of repair have been around for centuries, while others are much more recent. We aim to expand the initial 12 lexicon entries from the book (snapshots in the cultural world of reparative thinking and practice), they represent a wide array of rooted practices that we hope will spark interest in further research on the myriad examples of global traditions and modes of repair not included in this vocabulary.

PLEASE submit here your contributions to above topics- we will soon transfer all these entries to a Digital Commons Site hosted by the RISD Library.

On Pluriversal

By Bec Barnett and Tristan Schultz

Understanding that repair needs to be considered from a pluriversal lens, that there are many different forms of repair, repairing many different ‘things’ and worlds, is vital to the repair project. This recognises, not only the many diverse repair practices that exist and the diversity of ‘things’ requiring repair, but also the unique needs and local constraints and affordances responded to by place-specific cultures of repair. A pluriversal understanding of repair acts in opposition to the universalising capitalist economy by creating spaces for new and ancient ways of doing, collective modes of being and care to be practiced. A pluriversal understanding of repair allows one to identify “I do not have the skills or materials to carry out this repair but someone else might.” and then seek that person out.

Markus Berger