In today's world, products often have an ever-shorter life cycle. When they become defective, they are replaced instead of repaired. Customers are conditioned to become consumers who buy new products even though the old ones still work (e.g., cell phones). This is in contrast to the past, when objects were family heirlooms that lasted for generations. Due to the high number of variants and specialization of components, finding suitable replacement parts has become a major challenge.

However, with the help of digital manufacturing and rapid prototyping tools, we are able to easily design broken or missing parts that are no longer available on the market, thus extending the life of products. Not only does this mean less waste in landfills, but it also preserves energy and material resources used during the manufacturing process.

The circular economy suggests repair as the fastest and most effective way to get more value from our resources. "Waste and pollution are not accidents, but consequences of decisions made in the concept and design phase." As designers, we have a great responsibility to design out waste and production, but also to think in creative ways to extend the life of products (and materials).

We invite you to participate in the Repair it Stegreif to collaboratively design creative solutions for products that don't work, prototype the missing parts and give them a second chance.

Application: RWTHonline

Language: English/German

Groups: individual work

Start: 22.11.2022

Meetings: 22.11-29.11-13.12.2022, 10:30 – 12:00

Final Submission: Tuesday, 13th December 2022

Participants: 30

Tutor: Cedric Wehren M. Sc.

Points: 0.5 CP