Hasta La Ideas

Curator and writer Daniel Charny has teamed up with Sugru’s James Carrigan to launch Fixperts, a matchmaking service that introduces inventive designers to people with everyday design problems (+ movies).

Above: image from film by Ben Peppiatt

The designers and makers involved in Fixperts have already improved a young girl’s wheelchair’s control stick using the flexible moulding rubber Sugru (pictured above and below) and come up with a simple device to help a woman with MS to put in her earrings (pictured further down).

Above: image from film by Ben Peppiatt

At 100% Design, where the project was launched, Charny told Dezeen that Fixperts is all about the collaboration between users and makers. “The Fixpert arrives, they become the Fixpartners and together they identify something they can improve. The Fixpert then goes away and creates a prototype, comes back, tries it and hopefully it works,” he said.

Above: image from film by Ben Peppiatt

Each fix is filmed to show the development of the design process, from the moment the Fixpert arrives until the finished intervention, and Charny intends the films to become an online resource for teaching design in universities and schools. “We’re hoping to get to secondary schools, not to teach technology and design but to teach imagination and skills,” he said.

Above: image from movie by Peter Judson and Rachel Singer

Charny believes Fixperts is part of a new trend towards fixing broken items rather than disposing of them. ”This is a way that we can look afresh at sustainability as something we can take part in,” he said. “Users who are makers can contribute to resources getting back to the right place.”

Above: image from movie by Peter Judson and Rachel Singer

“The whole making era that we’re seeing unfolding is to do with how production will change, to do with society’s relationship with each other, it’s do with shared responsibility to resources,” he added.

Above: image from movie by Peter Judson and Rachel Singer

“People who don’t throw away things, who have the confidence to make something, will be supported by all this technology,” he continued. “They will be the new type of customer for all the companies that are interested in mass customisation.”

Above: A Fixpert helps Fohrida to fix her wheelchair control stick

Fixperts is currently looking for individuals, groups and design schools to get involved with the project.

Above: A Fixpert comes up with a tool to help Denise put in her earrings

Last year Charny curated the Power of Making exhibition at the V&A museum in London, which looked at how both amateurs and professionals use materials in innovative ways.

Earlier this year, Sugru founder Jane ní Dhulchaointigh told the audience at Dezeen’s Designed in Hackney Day how she invented and launched the “space-age rubber” that can customise and fix almost anything – watch the movie we filmed of her talk.

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and James Carrigan appeared first on Dezeen.

Designed in Hackney: Friday’s instalment in our showcase of the best design in the London borough of Hackney is Sugru, an ingenious silicone rubber that can be used to fix, strengthen or customise almost any object.

Having the consistency of modelling clay when first taken out of the pack, Sugru can be easily moulded and fixed in place by hand, but will cure at room temperature over 24 hours to form a tough, flexible, heat resistant and waterproof rubber.

Sugru will stick to almost any surface, including metal, wood, plastic and fabric, which means it can be used to hack an array of different objects, from basic tools to laptops.

Examples of some of the most original uses of the product are featured on the company’s blog.

Originally conceived of as part of a student project, the product was fine-tuned during years of lab testing and was included in TIME Magazine’s 50 best inventions of the year when it launched in 2010.

Sugru are based on Tudor Road, just off Mare Street in the south of the borough.

Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands

See a larger version of this map here.

Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney each day until the games this summer.

More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

Competition: we’ve teamed up with the makers of Sugru to give away ten packs of their plastic modelling clay for hacking products.

The self-adhesive material can be used to customise, improve, strengthen and mend pretty much any object in any material. It cures at room temperature overnight and becomes tough, flexible, heat resistant and waterproof after 24 hours.

Sugru is one of over 100 curiosities on show as part of the Power of Making exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum, which opened yesterday.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Sugru” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers.

Read our privacy policy here.

Competition closes 27 September 2011. Ten winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

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Here’s some more information from Sugru:

Makes your stuff perfect (for you)

Why are so many products just so bad? Uncomfortable tin openers, leaky trainers, they get our goat! Why should you have to spend £20 on a designer tin opener? You shouldn’t! Hack the one you have instead. Power to the (handy) people!

Makes your stuff last (really long)

Sugru can help you dramatically prolong the life of your stuff. By applying in some cases even a teeny tiny bit to your things, you get to keep them for much longer and decrease your impact on our wee world. Repair with gusto!

Very science-y indeed

Extremely clever scientists have been working on Sugru for over 5 years to give it as many great physical properties as possible, so it can be
as versatile and useful as possible for you.

Cures at room temperature: Sugru is like modelling clay when you take it from its pack. Once it’s exposed to air, it cures to a tough flexible silicone overnight using the moisture in the air. Working time = 30 mins. Cure time = 24hrs (3-5 mm deep).

Sugru is designed to stick to as many other materials as possible. It forms a strong bond to aluminium, steel, ceramics, glass and other materials including plastics like perspex. Sugru is resistant from -60 °C to + 180 °C. It gets hot and cold but it won’t get softer or harder or melt.

Sugru is silicone, so it’s completely waterproof and durable outdoors. It’s easy to clean with soap and water, oh and it’s fine with sea water too. When Sugru cures, it’s flexible rather than rigid. Which means that you can repair things that need to be able to move like textiles, cables, or shoes. Once it’s cured, Sugru is pretty much like other silicones – durable in the harsh soapy conditions of your washing machine and dishwasher.

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