How It Started
The idea of what now is the Furniture Repair Bank came from a sofa. Running during early COVID I ended up in Madrona, Seattle, and here it was, a modern, goodlooking, perfectly gray sofa with intense cat scratches on the side. I knew it could have been saved if only I could quickly arrange for transportation, had a work and storage space, and knew someone who could do it. So basically, the only thing I had was an ambition and a deep desire to rescue a sofa the color of a PNW winter.
For me that sofa had a representation. Over a 100,000 tons of furniture is being thrown away in WA each year because of lack of alternatives, too slim of a window in a thought process to decide and do something different, or lack of knowledge on what exactly can be done differently. Together with that furniture we as a society also throw away millions of work hours of people who worked on them, and millions of pounds of forest that was cut for production and raw materials extracted from the core of our planet. This sofa represents lost resources and new resources humans will steal from the planet to make a new one.
Last year, and thanks to the trust of grant reviewers from the department of Ecology, our then pilot project received funds to test furniture repair to benefit people in need. Building on our past experience running repair events we recruited volunteers, and coordinated multiple-days repair events to prove the concept that furniture can be saved from the landfill with a little bit of skill, time, and supplies. We also proved that this skill is teachable and providing an opportunity to learn it by trying, people take it back to their circles of influence, and make a change one restored chair at a time. This pilot was proved successful, and here you can read a closing report from that grant, and what else we tried and learned.
The pilot learnings composed a solid ground for formalizing the effort and thanks to a generous Re+ grant from King County last year we started looking for an affordable space to store and work on items. Meanwhile, we opened a search for skilled volunteers, and volunteers with no restoration experience whatsoever to start testing and building off practice on how to design the space and work of the warehouse in an effective way. I invite you to read what we achieve in working in a test mode this summer here.
No great thing is done alone, and the Furniture Repair Bank is being built off partnerships. We create synergies and develop mutually beneficial relationships around furniture collection, promotion, supplies, repair skills, and support for people in need. Along the way we meet and talk to many wonderful organizations that work in the field of furniture reuse to serve refugees and low-income. Among them, NW Furniture Bank, Community Warehouse, Humble Design, others. This is how I realized we are a furniture bank. But a furniture bank with a unique edge and very heavy community component. Our community of volunteers invest about 4 hours of their time in each piece we then provide to people in need.
We are also looking at why furniture ends up being not wanted. Many times the reason for being discarded is an out of date function (who needs a large lamp TV cabinet any more?), and old school or poor design. Furniture Repair Bank is invested in bringing the value of furniture back in circulation, and re-design if for longevity and repairability.
I am excited to see what we build together, and I invite you to join our journey whether it is to read and share our news, come and learn a new hands-on skill, help remotely volunteering your professional skills, transporting furniture, donating to our efforts, or introducing us to new partners.
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IG: https://www.instagram.com/repairbank/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/repairbank.org/
LN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/repair-bank
Subscribe http://eepurl.com/ivOTxU
And please reach out at xenia@zerowastewashington.org.
See you at Furniture Repair Bank!
