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 Tikkun Olam

By Aliza Tuttle

Tikkun Olam is an ancient concept that has changed with the times to remain a coalescing force for the Jewish community. Experiences of Tikkun Olam center on humanity’s actions, choices, and judgement in world-making by acknowledging the mistakes of the “collective we” and seeking to repair them. Tikkun Olam is actions to repair and improve, a sense of responsibility for well-being, and a role in the world for each of us. We see the world as a work in progress, and we are the driving forces of progress. If not me, who? If not now, when? Tikkun Olam is me, here, now. 

The concept of the world can be literal: the air, water, land. And, Tikkun Olam is the world of our perceptions. Within each of us is a world. Relationships are worlds, my internal self is my world, my community is my world. Tikkun Olam is internal world repair, relationship repair, and community repair. Tikkun Olam is a repairing of all of the worlds at all scales, a driving force to be the one to repair, now, in everything. 

Markus Berger