SETU students and staff are invited to join a Make and Mend Community of Practice (CoP). A Community of Practice is defined by Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner as a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."
According to their definition, a CoP must share:
1. Domain: this is an area of specific interest shared by CoP members, such a sustainable fashion skills.
2. Community: the members of the CoP must interact and meet together in pursuit of their shared interest. They do this to help each other and to share information.
3. Practice: the members are not united just by a shared interest, but by the fact that they practice in that area. The Wenger-Trayners give an example of a group of hospital nurses who regularly share lunch and discuss their work, and by doing so share important information and strengthen, evolve, and improve their professional skills.
“Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice.” Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner
Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner. (2015, June). Introduction to communities of practice. Wenger-trayner. https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
Our first CoP meeting will be on Tuesday 21st October, in the Library Learning Lab.
The Learning Lab is the glass walled room on the first floor of the LRC, directly above the library helpdesk (pictured below).
It’s a lunchtime date so bring your sandwiches and we’ll supply the treats! Together we can get familiar with the tools contained in the mending kits and practice the different techniques used for mending different kinds of damage.
Our first meeting or two (or three!) will be dedicated to learning how to crochet a granny square. After that we will explore different mending techniques - darning, sashiko and patching. Bring your favorite ripped jeans or your granny’s cardigan and together we’ll use the books, mending kits and each other’s knowledge and come up with a mend that makes your most precious clothes even more special.
