Cork, Wine Bottles, and Food-Grade Wood: Fixing Broken Appliances and Making Them Beautiful

FACT: While many of our home gadgets are complex microcomputers that are basically beyond the ken, let alone skills, of average folk like you and me, the vast bulk of our appliances (even the heavy ones, like your stove or dishwasher) are still simple electromechanical devices heart. If you can replace a fuse, recognize an obviously burned out connection, or re-attached a slipped belt, you can keep that “broken” vacuum or toaster humming for years to come. You can teach a grade schooler to do this safely.
COMPLICATION: While the electrical *guts* of our devices continue to be mid-twentieth century technology, the *cases* are almost invariably customized, injection molded plastic pieces of crap held together with glue, break-away tabs, and funky-ass screws designed to drive average folk *insane.*
PROBLEM: Plenty of devices have perfectly workable guts, but broken cases, and those cases can’t be readily repaired.
SOLUTION: Make your own replacement enclosures.
These are so, so lovely *and* well within the reach of Average Joes and Janes. Yes, this guy is using a fancy CNC, but he’s also planning to roll out this system to the UK equivalent of the Salvation Army. If you’re just fixing your blender or rice cooker, then you can easily work the wood with hand tools. What’s brilliant here is that he’s using *cork.* Cork is *great* for kitchen appliances: You can carve it with a drill and hobby knife, it will put up with lots of knocking about and getting wet, and it can easily mesh with the curved-line aesthetics of modern appliances (i.e., you can replace *parts* of a FUBARed case, instead of having to rebuild the whole thing with food-grade wood from for local lumber yard). I love it!
Short-circuit : Gaspard Tine-Beres

Cheap household appliances such as kettles, coffee makers or toasters, are typical of goods that are thrown away while in perfect working order. But, even when damaged, the electrical components unlike the casing are easily fixable; therefore, landfill sites are increasingly becoming sources of viable and perfectly working complex electrical and electronic components. Moreover, these same components represent a major waste problem, due to their composite and toxic nature.
. . .
My Coffee-maker, kettles and toaster, are made out of re-used components, and factory seconds glassware such as wine bottle and chemistry beakers, in order to take advantage of it’s ubiquity, and standardized dimensions. The main structure is made out of natural cork for it’s waterproof, anti-bacterial and insulation properties. This design required no mould and can be easily adapted, upgraded, or repaired as required.