I’m a fan of the fruit and veg display at the London Fields end of the vibrant Broadway Market in East London, not least because it’s much nicer than the vinyl posters that are often applied to the windows of these convenience stores advertising booze while concealing the backs of fridges and shelves that are usually pressed up against the windows inside these densely packed spaces. Rather I love how it extends the retail space, spilling it out onto the street with the vibrant colours of the fruit and veg and a sense of an impromptu and unofficial street market. It has an energy that you can feel on the street, an energy that defies the sterile retail environments that predominate our high streets. This is what happens in the villages and local boroughs of London and I absolutely love it.

A lovely bodge and a small digression.

Recently I noticed that someone from the shop had casually strung some fairy lights along the front of the display with wanton abandon introducing a disarming domestic charm to the display, one at odds with the burly men that run the shop, it all felt so unlikely. But it was the messy tape that was slowly coming off that made me want to get involved.

This was a lovely find, there is something compelling and beautiful about this bodge. In fact, I think I need to find a better term for this as I feel the definition for bodge is inaccurate and a touch unkind, the online Oxford dictionary defines it thus; “make or repair (something) badly or clumsily“. While this definition might be appropriate in this instance, I’m more than certain that not all bodges are “bad” or “clumsy”, a bodge can also be a clever intervention, a skilled fix, a temporary but brilliant solution. I find the definition narrow in it’s view, there is however one thing I believe to be consistent between all bodges, and that is haste.

Please excuse my digression here but before I get back to the fairy lights, I feel the definition of bodge is a little broken so I’d like to propose a fix by the way of a slightly revised definition, something that better reflects the spirit and a broader appreciation of the bodge, I propose the following; “Bodge: Make or repair (something) with haste.” Yeah, that feels much more accurate and appropriate, I feel that this better reflects the true energy of a bodge without diminishing it.

In the spirit of Fixing for strangers, I decided to submit this as a suggested amend to the online Oxford Dictionary.

Back to the lights.

Right, back to the lights, I absolutely love the impromptu charm here but I can see that the masking tape will not last. Through a combination of direct sun exposure causing the adhesive to dry and the tape to fall off coupled with the inevitable catching on the wire as people pick their vegetables from the display, it’s only a matter of time before this lovely little installation falls down. I wanted to help keep these lights in place so decided to try and fix it.

Thinking about the fix.

Step one was to find out what kind of cable mounting options were out there so I started with a Google search and discovered an insane amount of choice. After spending too much time marveling at the variety of clips available it occurred to me that they all fell into two broad categories; nail on or self-adhesive. This simplified matters, but as I was trying to choose one, I realised that none of them were right for the job! They were all designed to hold cables firmly in place. In spite of their differences, they were all fundamentally the same and too rigid for my needs.

From my observations of the fruit and veg stand, the cable needs to be a little flexible for the inevitable occasions where a customer snags it. A bit of flex would protect the cable against getting damaged or being pulled off by mistake. As there was no solution for this particular scenario available out there I was just going to have to invent one, heheee, any excuse to invent something 😉

My brief.

I needed something flexible and springy to hold the cable in place and the first thing to come to mind was an elastic band. This led me to think I could use a pinboard pin to pierce the elastic, pinning it to the wood of the display with the lights suspended through them. Pushing a pin into an elastic was a little bit finicky and introduced a weak point that would ultimately result in it tearing but in principle, it worked. However, installing this on the long fairy lights would be tedious as hell; the elastics would have to be passed along the full length of wire and if one ever broke, replacing it would be an absolute pain. It’s clearly not the right solution but it’s a start.

This failed experiment taught me that I needed a shorter pin and a much smaller elastic, that and a better method to hang the wire, basically an entirely different solution 😉 I ordered some black thumb tacks online so the fix would match the cable and hopefully blend into the display. Serendipitously, while walking to the shops one day I spotted a colorful scattering of Loom elastics on the pavement! Why hadn’t I thought of these before? Loom elastics are super small, strong and perfect for this job. Delighted with my find, I picked up a bunch of them to experiment with.

Inevitable?

For some reason when I got all these elements together at home I intuitively popped the elastic over the pin, pulled it under and around the cable before clipping it back over the pin again. My hands just reacted to the objects I had collected, it felt like I wasn’t even thinking, that what happened was somehow inevitable!

Shaking my head I admired this insanely simple solution. I gave the wire a tug, it flexed beautifully. This fix ticked all the boxes and worked incredibly well; it’s super quick and easy to install, holds the wire nicely and has a lovely flex if caught. Without a doubt, this was definitively the right solution for the corner shop.

Fixing for strangers.

Bundling everything together, I popped by the shop to ask if I could fix their lights, they were naturally surprised and a little suspicious so I showed them what I meant. As I demonstrated the fix, they smiled broadly and gave a nod of approval. It takes just five minutes to clean up the masking tape and install the bands and then I’m off. I’m super chuffed with this fix and am grinning to myself as I cycle away through the park.

Many months later.

Many months later I pass the shop and take a look at the display in the hope to see my lovely little invention in action but what I found was both beautiful and gutting.

Some of the bands had popped off the thumb tacks. Aaargh, I should have pressed them in fully to prevent that from happening. But all was not lost, the shop keeper had simply used the pin to secure the lights in place. A genius little recovery.

The universal version.

For the record, I absolutely love my flexible cable hook, Hahaaa, I’ve just gone and given it a name 🙂 The thing is, it’s a lovely little piece of design that I’d be delighted for people to discover and copy, after all, this is a major part of why I’m writing this blog in the first place!

I did however find myself thinking about the limitations of the design! What if someone wanted to use it on a different surface, like a wall, or tiles, or a window?! it just wouldn’t work. Seeing a nice little design challenge I decided to develop the idea further. I started modelling a 3D printable version that could also be mass manufactured, not because I want to manufacture it necessarily but rather it forces a more rigorous design process. After more than twenty prototypes I ended up with a great working solution that I was delighted with.

After my hard earned lesson from the corner shop, my first priority was to make sure the band couldn’t pop off again so I designed a detail for the band to snap securely onto the hook. The second critical feature was the ability for the hook to rotate so that it could be easily orientated after installation. This will make installation fool proof and allow for the hook to hold the cable properly whether it’s vertical or horizontal, or indeed at any angle. This turned out to be the trickier problem to solve but I cracked it in the end.

The final design is made in two parts; the hook and the base. The hook component simply snaps into the back of the base allowing the two parts to rotate freely within one another, it’s a lovely little object to fiddle with 🙂 To mount the hook onto whatever surface you like, you can use all kinds of products, I tested Command strips, double sided tape, Sugru and foam pads, all of which worked great. For the tape solutions I just stuck it onto the back of the hook and trimmed off the excess with a scissors. For Sugru I used a tiny amount, removed the excess once mounted and then gave the hook a few turns in the base so that it didn’t bond to the Sugru.

I think my favourite solution is the double sided foam pad which is one of the quickest options but it will also bond to a wide variety of surfaces. The most robust and weather-proof option is Sugru while the most removable is the Command strip. Irrespective of your adhesive choice, they all look pretty discreet and work brilliantly.

It’s free.

As always with Fixing for strangers, the 3D file is free to download from Thingiverse. If you don’t have a 3D printer, don’t worry, you can get it printed locally on 3D Hubs, the AirBnB for 3D printers. I love this service and use it all the time. The parts are very small and super cheap to print.

I’m pretty proud of this little design and I hope you enjoy it too.

Please feel free to use this flexible cable hook design anywhere, on a widow, tiles, your fridge, brick wall, office desk and I’d love to see where you use it. Comments, suggestions and feedback are of course very welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I do hope you find these explorations interesting and they energise you in some way. While you’re here, please do sign up to follow this blog and of course, let me know your thoughts and share your suggestions, I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time, happy fixing.

James