FIX
Read the Winter 2017 FIX issue all about mending, repairing and improving things that are broken, forgotten or neglected.
Wishlist: A curated set of items for getting your fix on
What could be more thoughtful than mending, repairing and improving things that are broken, forgotten or neglected? Creatively designed and compassionately made, here are a few tools to (and things which) do just that. Get stuff fixed Get fixed stuff Fix yourself Get your fix Photo credit (header): Lachlan Donald Read more →
The rescue dog that rescued me: An illustrated story
• • • • • I have settled in. Who wouldn’t? I get two beds, two dinners and two walks a day. Polly used to walk on a set route with no stiles (she is small), no fields with livestock (she is terrified of cows) and no mud (she likes to walk fast). But I… Read more →
Art of the fix
A bit of a Japanophile, I’d been looking for the kimono shop listed in my Melbourne guidebook when I came across something even better. Up a dingy stairwell and down a dimly-lit corridor in an old building that could have been the setting for the detective agency in a black-and-white film, a cheerful sign caught my eye: “Haberdashery”. I poked… Read more →
Q&A: On the question of fixing
We asked, “What do you resolve to fix in 2017, and how?” Photo credit: DeShaun Craddock (header) Read more →
A playlist to banish bad moods, boredom and much else besides
Sometimes things break, and that’s sad, but the act of fixing them can be its own kind of therapy, and build character in the process. This collection cycles through the stages, from despair to repair. Click on individual songs, or listen to the entire playlist on Spotify and Playlists.net. Follow Jason on Twitter at @jkaraian. Photo credit: Ted Major (header); 24hourmoon (featured) Read more →
The worst (and best) breakup story ever
It is Easter and the Man and the Woman are going on a trip. This is something they do at Easter. Or rather, it is something they have done every Easter since they met. They look forward to it. It’s not always that a Man and a Woman their age get to stay in a house that is not their… Read more →
Why help makes the best glue
I am five years old. I’m in my bedroom with my coloured pencils and colouring book. Opening the book, I grab a pencil and start colouring. And then, it happens—the thing that always happens to kids my age. I simply cannot stay inside the lines. I am frustrated. It is SO FRUSTRATING! Crying out for my mum to save me… Read more →
What restoring a derelict chateau taught me about myself
As I laboriously scrubbed its floors, dusted its surfaces and ridded the French chateau of three decades of cobwebs, I finally found the time to reflect. The smell of freshly cut grass and musty old barns evoked memories of my summer holidays spent there. It’s been in our family since the early nineteenth-century. And when my parents split up, it’s… Read more →
Fixation with… Superfix: When public art meets make do and mend
Growing up in a house of fixers is something that stays with you for life. I have vivid memories of taking torn garments to my mum and being mesmerised watching her sew on spare buttons and seal rips in treasured play clothes. Even now, catching up with my father on the phone, it’s his updates on restoring the Land Rover… Read more →
Fixation with… Kintsugi: How a Japanese tradition brought me closer to my crockery
The dish in my kitchen had been upsetting me. Its heyday as part of my teatime ritual was long gone, but I hadn’t parted with it. In three pieces, it lurked moodily behind my mugs, wondering whether it would ever be invited to the table again. I’d been uncertain how to fix it until one day, wandering the internet, I… Read more →