About
Repair Shop is Rachel Smith and Sam Bennett, friends bonded through a shared love of research, design, textiles, and helping people learn. As Repair Shop, we partner across disciplines to discover, practice, and share craft- and repair-related knowledge.
We were drawn to these topics after years working across the design industry, where we often saw novelty and growth prized above all else, while critical questions went unasked. In particular, those of upkeep (who will maintain this and how?), necessity (does this need to exist?), and broad future effects on people and the planet (who and what will benefit, and who and what will suffer?).
We now support and develop projects that consider what it means to make and consume in today’s world by prioritizing systems thinking, slow craft, and human and planetary health. Repair Shop is our shared home for this work in all its forms, from mending tattered sweaters, to facilitating accessible repair workshops, to researching cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural approaches to circularity.
WE...
We were drawn to these topics after years working across the design industry, where we often saw novelty and growth prized above all else, while critical questions went unasked. In particular, those of upkeep (who will maintain this and how?), necessity (does this need to exist?), and broad future effects on people and the planet (who and what will benefit, and who and what will suffer?).
We now support and develop projects that consider what it means to make and consume in today’s world by prioritizing systems thinking, slow craft, and human and planetary health. Repair Shop is our shared home for this work in all its forms, from mending tattered sweaters, to facilitating accessible repair workshops, to researching cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural approaches to circularity.
WE...
- Regularly host online darning workshops with learners across the globe, plus the occasional in-person workshops.
- Work with non-profits and universities on research and design education.
- Are serving on the Maintainers Steering Committee for 2024-2025.
- Presented “Regenerational Repair Shop: A Slow Process in Fast Times” at the 4th International Artefacta Conference: Resolutions! in Helsinki, Finland in 2025.
- Designed couture repair programming at the High School of Fashion Industries through a grant from the Culture of Repair Project for 2024.
- Wrote about bringing a mending mindset into public education in Places Journal.
- Presented “How Mending Survives” at the Sustainability in Practice: DIY Repair, Reuse and Innovation in Tartu, Estonia in 2024.
- Served on the Steering Committee for Barnard’s first-ever Circularity Day in 2023, and were featured in Heimtextil’s 2023 Circular Design Showcase in Frankfurt, Germany.
- Designed and hosted Repair Hub programming at the Greenpoint Library & Environmental Education Center, through the Brooklyn Public Library 2022 BKLYN Incubator program.
- Were Artists-in-Residence for the Summer 2022 LMCC Arts Center Residency on Governors Island, and the November 2022 cohort at Pocoapoco.
- Researched how shifting aesthetic values influence maintenance and circularity in the built environment, through Educopia's Maintainers Movement Fellowship 2022.
- Have been featured in publications across the world, including Harper’s Bazaar, Monopol, i-D Magazine, Hyperallergic, Obscura, The Zoe Report, and Mix Magazine.