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Tired Of Tossing Your Phone Every Few Years? This Startup Has A Solution

• https://www.fastcodesign.com

It's often more expensive to get a gadget or piece of clothing fixed than it is to simply buy a new one. This phenomenon is partially due to companies designing products so that consumers are incentivized to buy new rather than repair old. And as repair shops become few and far between, people with the specialized skills to fix things like electronics and furniture are becoming more rare.

The British social entrepreneur Sophie Unwin thinks there's room for a new kind of repair shop with an entirely new business model. The Edinburgh Remakery, her shop in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, is part thrift shop, part maker space, part repair shop, and part learning center. It doesn't just repair broken electronics, furniture, or textiles–it teaches customers to fix things themselves.

In stark contrast to previous generations of shops, where crotchety fixers armed with screwdrivers and power tools tinkered with dusty televisions, old electronics, and broken household goods, the Remakery is a colorful, vibrant nexus of repaired furniture and electronics, one-on-one lessons with experienced IT technicians, classes focused on skills like sewing, upholstery, and leatherworking, and people working on their own projects using the shop's tools. Because the Remakery's policy is that they always fix your stuff in front of you, the focus shifts from a transactional service to a learning experience.

Unwin's vision of a new culture of repairability extends far beyond Edinburgh. With a new consultancy and franchise business in the works, you could one day find Remakeries around the world.


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