Anō Anō - The Upcycle Space

Anō anō is a space for our community. It's a space to come together to learn, share knowledge, do sewing or handcrafts, and get creative together. We collect clothing that local opshops are unable to sell. This is then either repaired, upcycled, or cut into fabric pieces to be used for sewing and craft projects. If it's done its dash, we use it for stuffing and rags. We do our best to find a use for things, repair, reuse, recycle - keep them in the loop and out of the landfill.

We have open sessions Monday - Friday where you can drop in and take part, whether you'd like help and guidance with a project or a mending job, to volunteer your time helping us with community projects, or just to get creative and crafty. This is a space for all ages, and we have all the crafty supplies and spaces you'll need for most endeavours. We have a lounge area for handcrafts, a large cutting table, several sewing machines and overlockers, a lot of donated fabrics, stuffing, and wool, along with all the scissors, threads, zippers, ribbons, elastic etc that you need. All we ask is a koha of money, volunteer time, or Tai Tokerau Timebank timecredits in exchange for using the space and materials.

We're also available as a space if you have a group you'd like to bring in for your own sessions. We have facilitators who are able to show you around, make you feel welcome, and offer guidance and support on your projects. Get in touch if you'd like to arrange this, funding may also be available, though a koha is always appreciated to help with our operating costs.

Our sessions are:

Monday 10-1 with Waikarere, 1- 4 with Taryn
Upcycled clothing, community projects, independent sewing and crafts with guidance available

Tuesday 3-5 with Joanne
Drop in sewing and crafts with lessons available

Thursday 10-6 with Merryn
Drop in sewing and crafts with guidance available. Whittling from 2pm.

Friday 10-1 with Lyn

Drop in sewing and crafts with lessons available

Last Saturday of the month 10.30-12.30 Repair Cafe

At the Menzshed, Church Rd

Bring your broken items to see if our volunteers can fix them.

Why We Do It

Did you know that about 100 million kgs of old clothing ends up in landfills in Aotearoa each year? That’s heavier than all the houses in Kaitaia. Or every car in Whangarei!

In the old days, the average person owned 17 garments. All of these items would be patched and mended as they wore out, turned into other garments, and finally replaced when they could only be used for rags. Even then, the rags could be thrown in the compost, because they were made using natural fibres that break down easily.

Clothing was also quite expensive in comparison to wages, and used good quality, long-lasting fabrics. These days on average, people buy 22 new pieces of clothing a year, only wearing each piece about 10 times before getting rid of it. Today's fabrics are often made cheaply, using synthetic fibres, which wear out fast, and aren't good for the environment when they're thrown away.

When we get rid of our old clothing, most of us will give it to friends, family, or donate it to op shops but there's just too much poor quality clothing for op-shops to deal with. We talked to two op-shops in Kaitaia - one of them sends 7 wheely bins of clothes to the landfill every week. The other has between 2 and 8 black rubbish bags every day.

At Anō anō, we want to do something about that. This means changing our relationship with clothes, and making it fun. Come say hi if you want to be part of the change!