vårda och uppskatta det gamla och nötta

Skavank is a mixture of theory, inspiration and practical handbook that wants to help us look at our things with new eyes and learn how we can best repair and care for them.

Isabelle McAllister, who has worked with innovative construction projects and DIY throughout her adult life, talks here about the development of the scrap and throwaway society and old approaches and techniques; she goes through the properties of different materials, gives tips on repairs that are both visible and invisible and shows inspiring transformation projects.

The new and fresh has been desirable for so long, in both people and things, and trends have swung so fast. It has been much more efficient to buy new than to repair. Few of us know what different materials need and how best to repair them.

But we are in the middle of a period of change. Most people understand that our rate of consumption is not reasonable. Perhaps we also see that things that have been owned and handled - by us or by others - have something that the new lacks, call it patina, provenance or personality. Something that requires time, handling and sustainability.

This book shows the beauty of what rubs, and the satisfaction of taking care of something.