Katherine Cure · Eco-Chick

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Katherine Cure

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Fix It, Don't Toss It!

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01/13/08

After arriving at warm home town Barranquilla, Colombia, I was in the process of putting away my winter clothes, when inside my jacket’s pocket I found an unfamiliar object. I reached inside and out came a pair of earrings. “Nice”, I thought. And tried to remember where I had gotten them from. Not mine. Must be my friend Johanna’s, to whom I last lent my jacket.
Taking advantage of the situation (a new pair of earrings for the New Year), I was going to try them on when I realized they were broken; the piece to fit in the earlobe was missing.

Mmmh… what to do? Throw them away? Sadly, I must confess that was my first thought; but then I stopped and asked myself, “Where will these earrings go? Once they reach the garbage, what will happen to them?” It was then that I decided to save the lovely pair. What would it take? How long, how much would it cost? Is jewelry commonly recycled; turned around, from person to person? Or are we stuck in the buy-buy, throw-throw cycle? All these questions arose in my mind as I set out to quench my earring fixing curiosity.

My first stop was at my cousin’s, Colombian designer Melissa Chams (above), who owns a boutique about five blocks away from my house. “Can you fix this?” I asked. “Sure”, she said. Two minutes later, I was in front of a new pair of earrings, a living memory of my now far away friend Johanna, and a happy conscience for having contributed to waste reduction.