Developing your vision

If you’re thinking about starting a repair café in your community, there are a number of steps it’s a good idea to work through first.

Some repair cafés like to specialise, for example in clothing or technology; others are generalists. Consider what your interests are and what sort of repairers you will be able to recruit.

Visit nearby repair cafés

Find out about other repair cafés near you, if there are any, and pay them a visit to see what a working repair café is like. You might like to bring something to be repaired, for the full experience. Introduce yourself to the organisers if things aren’t too busy.

Watch what goes on with an organiser’s eye. Observe what goes on, who attends, and how the repair café is run.

If you’re in Canberra, you can visit one of the SEE Change repair cafés. Elsewhere, Repair Café International provides a Repair Café finder.

Understand the commitment

It isn’t hard to organise a repair café, but it is a commitment. Make sure you understand what you’re taking on, and that you have the time, the resources, and the capacity. You’ll be the person who has to:

Once you’re under way, you’ll be able to delegate more and more of this work to other members of your crew. But you should make sure you handle the first steps without becoming overwhelmed or burning out.

How SEE Change can help

If you’re in Canberra, SEE Change can help you get your repair café started. We have been supporting repair cafés since 2020, and we can:

  • set you up with an experienced repair café organiser to be your buddy

  • provide a “repair café in a box” kit of useful equipment

  • give you access to our injury and public liability insurance

  • provide a legal structure for you to operate under

Even if you’d just like a chat, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch with the office and we’ll tell you more.

Check in with your community

Consider your observations in the context of your local community. What is the demographic of the area you will serve—how will you make the repair café accessible? What is the best way to promote it? What are attitudes to sustainability and consumption like in this area? How many people would be interested in attending a local repair café? What repairs would be most compelling? Do any risks stand out?

This is a good time to start a conversation and invite perspectives from those your café will be serving. You could:

  • talk to your neighbours and your local elected representatives

  • run a survey for your suburb and surrounding area

  • post in local Facebook groups

  • hold a public forum for your suburb

This will also be an opportunity to start meeting people who can help you organise and run the event.