Gallery
foto: Natalia Chrzanowska
Project overview
A three-day cultural celebration at the National Museum of Technology in Poland commemorating the 100th birthday of Adam Słodowy the iconic Polish DIY pioneer who shaped generations through his television program and repair ethos.
This initiative reframed repair not as an outdated necessity, but as a living cultural practice, transforming fixing into celebration through workshops, expert discussions, and intergenerational knowledge exchange.
Rather than positioning repair as a response to crisis alone, the event positioned it as joy, care, and continuity, a bridge between analogue heritage and contemporary circular movements.
Main objectives
The project revitalized repair culture by:
☀︎ Honoring Poland’s DIY legacy through Słodowy’s centennial as a symbolic cultural anchor
☀︎ Designing age-specific workshop experiences ranging from toy repair to smartphone and computer maintenance
☀︎ Creating dialogue between repair specialists, craft practitioners, and new-generation enthusiasts
☀︎ Demonstrating that repairing can be as emotionally rewarding as purchasing something new
Achieved results
The event successfully created a multi-generational repair ecosystem through carefully structured activities:
☀︎ Children were introduced to basic repair principles through playful toy-fixing workshops
☀︎ Teenagers explored smartphone construction and hands-on repair, while young adults developed practical computer repair skills
☀︎ Expert debates elevated repair from a practical skill to a cultural and ethical movement, connecting Słodowy’s legacy with modern repair cafés and cooperative craft initiatives
☀︎ The centennial celebration effectively bridged historical DIY traditions with contemporary circular design practices, reaffirming repair as culturally relevant
Main reflection
This experiment revealed that reviving repair culture requires emotional resonance as much as technical competence.
By placing repair within the context of national heritage and honoring Poland’s most recognizable repair icon, the initiative activated collective memory rather than relying solely on pragmatic environmental arguments.
The enthusiastic cross-generational participation, from children fixing toys to adults rebuilding computers, demonstrated that repair remains deeply satisfying when framed as pride, care, and cultural continuity rather than sacrifice or obligation.
This project reinforced my belief that sustainable behaviors endure most effectively when they are rooted in identity, nostalgia, and shared meaning, not solely in ecological necessity.
Thanks for this collaboration to Areta Szpura, Natalia Chrznowska and Sara Karolak.