On Friday, May 15th, our community lunch speaker was Diana Graham, founder of the Detroit Repair Cafe.
Diana is an industrial engineer who decided to start a repair cafe in Detroit after taking a turn at one in Lincoln, Nebraska. Since March of 2024, volunteers with Detroit Repair Cafe meet twice a month at free spaces such as public libraries or cafes and work together to fix whatever the community brings in—often pants, coats, lamps, vacuums and sewing machines.
The first repair cafe was started in Amsterdam in 2009, and since that time more than 4,000 have popped up worldwide. The goal is not only to help save items from landfills, but also to keep old-fashioned repair skills alive. Based on the enthusiastic response from the crowd gathered at our lunch, Diana’s group is certainly a welcome addition to our Detroit community!
Follow Detroit Repair Cafe on Facebook or Instagram to see when the next repair cafes are scheduled.
Listen to Diana’s talk below.