This is a small, non-land-based permaculture design using a principle-led framework. Rather than following a full procedural method such as OBREDIM, the design draws on personal observation and applies selected permaculture principles to create a social intervention that encourages mending and connects menders.
The inspiration for this design came partly from the work of the authors of a book called Mending Life, Nina and Sonya Montenegro, and partly from my realisation that mending is an integral part of being human, even if it seems like a forgotten art in this crazy world of consumerism.
A couple of years ago I found myself drawn to the idea of mending my own clothes thus giving them another chance (and another, and another). What’s more, using the sewing kit that’s been passed down to me by my grandma (and later expanded) I, a thirtysomething grown up man, was able to fix my clothes myself.
This experience had multiple benefits:
I was able to connect to my grandma through chatting with her about mending and use the very skills she had taught me when I was very little it may sound silly, but mending a few holes on my T-shirts, gave me an immense sense of achievement it inspired me to broaden my skills and learn darning and embroidery from Youtube it empowered me and boosted my confidence in my skills of fixing thingsAnd if it can do that for me it can do it for others too, so this gave me the idea to turn this into an inspiring design or maybe even into a social intervention or a movement.
I mean, mending and fixing is already a movement, but giving it a bit of a spin we can encourage even more people to get into it and celebrate it!
Designer:thePeterSimon
Diploma design - fully assessed Yes Practical Solutions Categories Community art Stage of design Full design Diploma design - fully assessed Yes Date of design 10/04/26 Copied to clipboard- Log in to post comments