The idea
FixFair sets out to encourage people to solve everyday problems through design. Inspired by the Fixperts model, which is accessed under a creative commons license, FixFair adapts this to the market square, high street & local communities within Kingston. FixFair is unique in its town centre presence & accessibility, demonstrating how Open Design benefits users & communities, & engendering a ‘Made in Kingston’ ethos.
This ranges from fixes to broken household goods (increasing sustainability) to adaptations of existing products & innovations which improve the lives of those excluded economically, those with care or child commitments, or those with physical & mental challenges. The use of a ‘travelling fair’ workshop format allows us to bring help to those unable to travel readily, enabling us to take solutions to the problem.
What we'll deliver
- • FixFair enables people to 'fix' problems via a panel of designers/craftspeople & a dedicated workshop
- • FixFair will travel around the Kingston, providing a minimum of 12 ‘fix fairs’ to local residents & consumers
- • Ideas are videoed, archived & disseminated via the internet to enable others, located anywhere, to access these
- • The approach will be trialed with local schools, enabling them to enhance creative skills in the curriculum
Why it's a great idea
Kingston University is a keen proponent of ‘thinking through making’; we believe fixing is the future, a design process that drives innovation, encouraging creativity & resourcefulness, & creating content that encourages people to use the power of fixing to solve everyday problems & share this knowledge to inspire new fixes.
Steps to get it done
- We will acquire & adapt a mobile exhibition trailer as a pop-up (work)shop
- We are working with KingstonFirst to organise a tour of the Borough, to include: markets, estates, carehomes & schools
- We can access a wide skillbase via staff/students at the Faculty of Art+Design & a wider network of local craftspeople
- We have agreed rights to the use of the approach from Fixperts, including access to their archive
- We have assembled a group of partners that have already informed the project, including RBK & Kingston University
Part of a wider return to fixing/adapting/hacking products, rather than replacing them – a trend that is countering the commercial culture of obsolescence - FixFair supports frugal innovation in which seemingly non-commercial ideas (having small markets) have the potential to reach millions via the internet. Moreover, FixFair exploits the growing availability of Makerspaces to form a powerful tool for creative skills development, & ultimately, for design & social change. Downstream, we intend to batch produce the most popular ideas & make these available through selected retailers as part of our sustainability strategy, with possible extension to a ‘FixShop’ pop-up should a vacant unit become available.
