BROKEN – Book Launch

In May 2023, Katie celebrated the launch of her sixth book, BROKEN: Mending and Repair in a throwaway world at RAEBURN Lab E20.

We live in a single-use society, where fashion is fast, disposability is the norm and it is easier to replace than to repair. We don’t need to mend things anymore – and yet we do. What is it about Homo faber – man the maker – that cannot resist fixing what is broken?

As we start to decouple from the linear take-make-waste model that has dominated Western economies since the Industrial Revolution and seek something more circular, an enquiry into what mending means has never been more urgent.

With a foreword by The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades, this new book by craft and circularity advocate Katie Treggiden celebrates 25 artists, curators, menders and re-makers who have rejected the allure of the fast, disposable and easy in favour of the patina of use, the stories of age and the longevity of care and repair. Accompanying these profiles, six in-depth essays explore the societal, cultural and environmental roles of mending in a throwaway world.

Katie was interviewed about her book by Yasmin Jones-Henry, a writer and strategist with specialisms across sustainability, design, fashion & culture.

The Lab E20 is designed & produced by RÆBURN: regenerating London’s creative industries, rethinking retail and bringing circular economy design to the built environment.

You can purchase your copy of the book here