House 6A, the Harlem/Haarlem house was full of helpful ideas for repairing and remaking rather than recycling.
A focused and silent crown is gathered on the porch of House 6A, bent over a woman who is bent over an old afghan rug with huge holes in it. She is stabbing a bright pink strip of wool into the back of the carpet using a wooden hook with several needles. The movement of her hand is repetitive, short and sharp. The demonstration is just one of a plethora of unique and design-conscious ways to mend your broken house wares instead of throwing them out, or even recycling them. This mode of repair is quite therapeutic in itself, is apparently rather durable, and brings a very unique and ‘new’ element to the ancient [or at the least well-worn] weavings under-foot.
Platform 21 are the creators of Tectonic repair , which is the gold paint initiative. As designer Lotte Dekker explains: “By widening and reshaping the crack,instead of denying it, the object gets a whole new character without losing its function. The crack becomes beautiful and deserves to be seen!”
Other unique workshops indoors reveal old woollen jumpers/sweaters with a similar felted repair in bright contrasting colours, a ‘Mondrian; Broadway Boogy-Woogy”-inspired duct-tape repair kit [in blue, yellow and red] to cover cracks in your wall, and a way to fill unsightly gaping plaster holes in a wall with patterned wallpaper.The ideas are colourful, humerous, and good for the environment to boot.
