Reviving the Culture of Repair in Yerevan

In a city where repair culture has largely been confined to commercial service centers, Ars Techne Repair Café emerges as a commons-based alternative—a space where repair is not a service for profit but a shared practice of care, sustainability, and learning.

Why a Repair Café in Yerevan?

Yerevan, like many urban centers, faces mounting challenges related to waste generation, e-waste pollution, and resource depletion. With repair culture increasingly shifting toward disposable consumerism and commercial repair shops offering expensive, often opaque services, Ars Techne Repair Café aims to challenge planned obsolescence and reintroduce repair as a cultural and ecological necessity.

By extending the lifespan of everyday objects—electronics, textiles, small appliances, and bicycles—we directly contribute to:

• Reducing landfill waste by diverting broken items from being discarded.
• Minimizing carbon footprints associated with the production and transportation of new goods.
• Promoting circular economy principles, where materials and products are reused rather than wasted.
• Raising awareness about sustainable consumption and repair literacy.

At the Ars Techne Repair Café, we encourage DIY repair, skill-sharing, and creative reuse, offering free assistance to fix everyday items. It is a space where engineers, tinkerers, artists, and everyday people come together to extend the life of objects, reduce waste, and exchange knowledge.

What We Offer

• Hands-on repair sessions with volunteer fixers and professionals.
• Skill-sharing workshops on electronics, sewing, mechanics, and DIY maintenance.
• A collaborative space where people can exchange knowledge rather than just seek a service.
• Advocacy for the Right to Repair, promoting policies that empower individuals to fix their own devices without legal or technical barriers.
• A strong ecological mission, tackling Yerevan’s growing waste problem by fostering a culture of sustainability and responsible resource use.

A Space for Commons, Not Commerce

Ars Techne Repair Café aligns with our broader mission to foster a culture of open knowledge, sustainability, and citizen science. In contrast to traditional repair shops, where expertise is locked behind a paywall, we believe that learning to repair is a collective right. By adhering to the Right to Repair movement, we advocate for consumer access to repair manuals, spare parts, and the ability to modify and fix their own devices—challenging restrictive manufacturer policies that force people to discard rather than repair.

By empowering people to fix their own devices, we not only challenge disposable culture but also build a more resilient, resourceful, and ecologically conscious community in Yerevan.