From the Pluriverse
Mend Assembly: A grassroot maker space in Totnes
A blend of local production, sustainability expertise, innovation and old fashioned clothing services
By Zoe Gilbertson
Photo by Immo Klink
of visible mending by Thea Batty
A Q&A with Mend Assembly
Mend Assembly is a methodology designed to be replicated, adopted and adapted in different locations around the world by its affiliate members to provide locally relevant clothing goods and services.
OC.M: In what ways are you a community and how do you serve its needs?
Mend Assembly:
By creating a physical space for textile and clothing practitioners to share their skills.
By being an open and accessible space for all communities to inhabit.
Through the social gatherings. We provide a physical space to gather, knowledge share and to practice all kinds of textile and clothing related activities.
Through business to business. We make connections between other local businesses that wouldn’t usually be in communication.
"We are a non-branded space. We put clothing in a non-commercial context and through this, allow people to curate their own identities."
OC.M: What does Mend Assembly do to nurture creativity?
Mend Assembly: We preserve heritage skills but also basic skills within the community to allow care of clothing. We are based in Totnes, which has a real heritage and culture of second hand clothing. We are creating permanent spaces for clothes swapping, places for care of clothing and cultures and customs that are being lost in the global north. We are preserving and nurturing.
We are a non-branded space. We put clothing in a non-commercial context and through this, allow people to curate their own identities.
OC.M: What do you share and how?
Mend Assembly: The concept of the space is that it’s permanent for knowledge sharing between practitioners. It creates potential for collaboration between practitioners and peer to peer knowledge sharing between residents and citizens. For example, we have a pattern archive on site.
We keep money in a locality, prioritising financial exchange between local stakeholders. We are a CIC (community interest company) so we exist to serve community interest.
We also guide and help affiliates in their organisational structure.
OC.M: In what ways do you respect and care for other people and their cultural expression?
Mend Assembly: This is difficult within a location of limited expression.
We are an open space. Anyone can bring in their own textile practice eg. Kirklees use our space to work with refugees. People of more diverse cultures come and share their textile practice. The remit of the model is to create locally focused permanent spaces. Respecting and caring for other peoples is significant eg. Someone wants to set up a Mend Assembly in Lagos, Nigeria and this will develop locally. We provide a model and business concept which is very open. We have 3 basic pillars - programming, services, memberships.
We don't yet have well defined principles. Our most critical focus is localism and permanent physical spaces. These are foundational principles with a focus on solutions for sustainability. It’s evolving.
"We are very much about defining sustainable textile practice in the context of locality: Re-use, repair, share."
OC.M: How do you work with nature?
Mend Assembly: We are very much about defining sustainable textile practice in the context of locality: Re-use, repair, share. Resident practitioners are selected because of their commitment to sustainable ideas. We provide sustainable solutions for other businesses, encouraging more sustainable and ethical practice. We help them to replace textile products with sustainable versions.
Website: mendassembly.com
Main Location: The Old Craft Room, The Mansion, 36 Fore Street, Totnes, TQ9 5DY, Devon, UK
Network Location: Currently operating in the UK in: Totnes, Devon; Isle of Weight; Kirkees, Huddersfield; and in Mas d'Azil, France.
How to participate:
Repair you clothes at the repairs and alternations drop in at Mend Assembly Totnes
Join the Mend Assembly Totnes Weekly Sewing Social
Become a member of Mend Assembly Totnes
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