The Artisans Repair Club is guided by a set of 10 principles:
- Meet people where they are. Come to their homes and investigate problems firsthand. Mobility challenges in particular need to be seen in context.
- Be available. Hold regular hours and give people lots of ways to ask for help. Invite them to call, email, leave word at the front desk, or just stop you in the hallway.
- Provide whatever help is wanted. Small items that don’t seem worth repairing can have enormous personal value to the person seeking help.
- Help and then offer to help some more. Look for other things that might need fixing, moving, adapting.
- If time and resources are running short, priority should be given to work that increases an individual’s local autonomy, their ability to navigate their domestic environment.
- Work on problems until you can’t. If a problem is too difficult, say so. Follow up to the best of your ability.
- Tell people what you can do. Hold special events in their community spaces, give demonstrations, share your enthusiasm for making and repairing things.
- Be warm, grateful, and kind. Make sure people know that you like helping them.
- Acquire new skills to tackle new kinds of problems. If you regularly encounter problems that require welding skills, learn to weld.
- Everything is personal. Learn the names of the people you help and their stories, and share your own along the way.