At the onset of the crisis, a shortage of visors and other protective clothing soon developed in Stockholm, with council-run elderly-care facilities particularly affected. One of the first initiatives to offer help was Blivande. Its Crisis Response project produced and distributed visors, gowns and masks to medical and care workers on the COVID-19 front lines.

The design and instructions for Blivande's gowns were translated for use in other countries, and the relatively inexpensive equipment required to produce them means Blivande's model could be quickly adopted almost anywhere. After Blivande saw that one of the major hospitals in Stockholm manufactured its own aprons, they started production in their own premises in the Freeport. Stockholm Makerspace, another collaborator, created thedesign for the gown. An artist from Blivande created the design of the visor . Ideally these should of course be produced in sterile environments and with stringent quality control, but during the onset a lot of healthcare providers accepted less rigorous solutions.

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The work of Blivande was focused on both maintaining its own production and engaging its vast and growing community in a range of ways. A growing number of volunteers supported at the arts space or from home by contacting businesses or media, updating spreadsheets as a part of the gathering of intel in regards to the daily supply and demand situation amongst health providers or simply donating money. Doing this work for the community is in line with the purpose ofBlivande that see themselves as a part of civil society with a goal to create abundance through working together.
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The impact of this initiative is plentiful: it engaged a growing community to directly make a difference duringthe crisis engaging 300-400 volunteers in its own premises but moreover, being a hub and instigator forother initiatives which makes the number of volunteers in larger figures. A range of other civil society actorswere inspired and supported with manpower,such as the scouts and football teams. There arepsychosocially beneficial aspects of projects of this kind and offering people to play a hands on role.
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There were no budget for this initiative as much was done on “the go” and changed day to day. Blivande ended up receiving around 50 000 SEK in donations, almost exclusively from private individuals. People donated between 50-300 SEK on average and some donating 1-5000 SEK. The initiative received no public funding. The overall spending has not been fully estimated as Blivande received a lot of material and food donations and people used used their private resources, such their own private cars. No one was paid for their work. There was a core group of 10 volunteers engaged working 8-60 hours a week, some throughout the whole period, on average these people volunteered 15-20 hours per week. The initiative engaged around 300-400 volunteers. In the month of April 135 volunteered at Blivande over 9-11 hours. The Facebook group for the crisis response engaged 1,600 members. Covid vulnerable individuals volunteered from home, doing logistical work and sourcing materials.

Blivande leveraged its skills, methods, and resources from the collaborative arts space to address the crisis. By mobilizing its existing community—a hub of people skilled in finding practical solutions through invention, co-creation, and creativity—Blivande filled a unique role in Stockholm. Thanks to its strong community connections, rapid community-building expertise, and digital literacy, Blivande quickly mobilized, organized, shared, and inspired in a world that shifted online before it was ready.

With experience in navigating fast, complex environments, both online and offline, Blivande was able to swiftly organize and help others in their mobilization efforts. The hacker-inspired approach to knowledge-sharing and creativity was critical, as Blivande became part of an international community creating open-source personal protective equipment. Everything was shared online, and all efforts were open-source.

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The initiativef urthermore spawned several other identical initiatives all over Sweden which all together produced over 200 000 gowns. Blivande acted as a central coordinator in this very agile and grassroots-driven spontaneous network which ended up being featured in several national newspapers, TV broadcasts and on government websites. The most notable offshoot of the Blivande production facility was our sister facility Förklädesfabriken i Farsta that got a lot of media attention and also a visit by Swedish interior minister Mikael Damberg.

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