The "R for Repair" project sponsored by the Singapore Design Council, the National Design Center (Singapore) and the Victoria and Albert Design Museum (hereinafter referred to as V&A) will be exhibited in V&A for the second time on September 17, 2022. The exhibition was jointly planned by Hans Tan Studio in Singapore and Jane Withers Studio in the UK.
In the "R For Repair" project, the public is invited to submit damaged items with reasons attached, and the designer carries out creative repair - usually giving the owner a new image or form on the basis of retaining his feelings and memories of the items. The exhibition shows that precious but broken old objects can obtain new meanings and functions through design, encourages visitors to reflect on consumerism, think about the value and significance of the objects used, and advocates creative restoration of objects to reduce waste design. In today's advocacy of green and sustainable development, it seems to have a coincident effect, which also makes the old objects bearing emotions interact with people again under the design behavior.
Confrontation with one-off economy
"R For Repair" shows the opposite of modern consumerism culture. In modern consumerism culture, repair is either devalued or considered luxury. The exhibition expands the concept of repair from simple repair, and designers apply their creativity to repair defective and worn items. These repaired exhibits touch people's preconceptions about repair, and also have a confrontation effect on the disposable economy under the influence of consumerism.
A broken watch is likely to be discarded as a "useless thing" under the influence of consumerism, but its function is promoted to a declaration product of the family under the careful "repair" of the designer. Lanzavecchia Wai Design Studio respects this precious souvenir from the hero's growth years, and encapsulates the important timing components of the watch in a box made of walnut wood by hand. The original mass market watch is in sharp contrast to the customized handmade walnut shell. The texture of the walnut shell has been specially selected to match the typical round dial of this watch. The designer also used four brass nails to mark the front cover and time scale, increasing the sense of design and practical functions. The whole device can be fixed together only by surface friction, and can also be easily disassembled for maintenance. It not only makes the old things more beautiful, but also extends their functions and service life.
If you think the case of watch changing into clock is too expensive or difficult to imitate, then this handbag repair method is absolutely affordable and easy to reproduce. The handbag with damaged exterior and intact interior has been given a new look by the designer Tiffany Loy. The designer turns it over for use, and then uses a piece of cotton thread to wind and sew it on the bottom and lower part that are most vulnerable to breakage. The lines form a grid, making it more durable and providing more storage space for the outside. Through such design and transformation, the traces of time are retained, the functions used are continued, and people rethink the meaning of damage.
Yes, things are created and are destined to be broken one day. In this sense, being broken or damaged is not a bad thing, and they should not be hidden. Atelier HOKO studio repaired the broken porcelain teacup. The handle of the teacup was not reinstalled. Instead, the broken part of the cup was polished and coated with resin to restore it to a cup without a handle. Designers strike a delicate balance between safe handling and preservation of damaged scars. The broken handle was placed in a wooden box with a booklet about "drinking without handle" beside it. These exhibits show how damaged or abandoned items can be endowed with new value and life through repair, thus reducing waste and demand for new manufactured products.
A special exhibit can bring a new perspective to the viewer. What if we say that a deformed pair of glasses is not damaged, but you misread it? Kinetic Studio took this idea to the extreme and proposed how the owner could adapt to the deformed glasses. This exhibit did not focus on the repaired items as other exhibits did.
It replaces the principal subordinate relationship between people and things from another perspective. People become the appendages of things, which subverts people's previous cognition and way of looking at the relationship between things and themselves. This device challenges us how to view and treat our daily goods, and re-examine our consumption culture in this one-time economic era. Instead of hastily replacing what we regard as waste, we sometimes look at them from a different perspective, which will give them new life.
Continuation of time, memory and emotion
Many donated items in the exhibition are for emotional reasons. Although they have lost their use, the owners of the items have kept them all the time, which highlights the time, memory and emotional connection between the items and their owners. By entrusting these precious damaged items to the designer, we realized a leap of faith - demonstrating the value of creative repair, not only for preservation, but also for adding a new layer of memory.
On the various items in the exhibition, there are also stories of people I love and memories of life events. Attua Aparicio Torinos designed and "restored" some pieces of broken glass from the wedding ceremony, which has a profound special meaning for the owner. In view of this, the designer preserved each piece in the restoration, and by stretching and shaping the melted glass pieces, smoothed their sharp edges, and made a chain link, symbolizing connection, love and eternity.
Designer Thomas Thwaites made a souvenir of dogs playing ball with plaster, polyurethane resin and wood. He fixed the mark left by the dog when playing with the ball on the model, and also kept the owner's feelings for the pet forever. To make this model, the designer untied the seam of the football, turned it over, and poured plaster on the opening to capture the shape, dent and green fragments of the original football. Such a plaster ball not only left traces of the dog, but also left its memories and emotions here.
The toy bus in the exhibit was a gift from Jared Lin's parents. The design studio Mighty Jaxx turned it into a three-dimensional model to pay tribute to Jared Lin's "nostalgic memories of Singapore in the past". The design of toy bus combines the design of Singapore bus and modern bus in the 1990s. The toy bus is re imagined as the entrance between the past and the present, connecting the past time, memories and emotions.
Some items in the exhibition have different functions after being repaired. The designer Clement Zheng repaired the broken radio alarm clock so that it can not only tell the time again, but also show personal memory. Each time you press the snooze button, this new work will trigger a new story, which will be presented through the scrolling text on the customized LED panel. Now, it is not only an alarm clock, but also a special memory and emotional bond.
The charm of "R for Repair" lies in that, after the designer's repair and creative updating, these old objects, which are entrusted with memories and emotions, not only link the memories and emotions in the objects, but also extend the timeliness of the old objects, link the past and future of an object, prompting people to rethink how we are connected with the old objects, and how to give value to the objects in our lives.
Design restoration and sustainability
In view of the global garbage, environmental ecology and resource problems, we should rethink the relationship with goods and find a sustainable state. Should fashion items be discarded after they are damaged? Designer Elissa Brunato gave us the best answer. This exhibit is part of the "BAO BAO" bag series designed by Issey Miyake. It is the best example of design driven fashion. The owner of the bag called it her favorite bag, because it looks like a mixture of football and disco lights, fashionable and unique, and now it is no longer used due to damage. According to this information, Brunato replaced the missing or damaged patch with a customizedstainless-steeltriangle, and stuck these fragments together through stitching, so that the owner can make future repairs. The recyclable triangle steel contains the modularity and mobility of the object, while giving the package a disco ball like luster. The designer also gave the extra triangularstainless-steelsheet to the owner of the bag, so that the bag can be rebuilt when it is broken.
In the exhibition, we can see many creative design methods, which add more use and style to the household appliances in people's inherent thinking. For example, Juju Studio repaired the worn old Singer sewing machine. It not only repaired and replaced its damaged parts, cleaned the operating system, and restored its practicality and beauty, but also added new laminates to it, so that it can also serve as a learning desk while restoring its original functions.
There are many ways to repair it. An antique sewing storage box has been transformed into a highly constructivist and functional furniture with the designer's idea and transformation. Manufacturer and designer Kobayashi opened the box to form a desktop, and compared this transformation to a blooming flower, and put a piece of customized glass on it as a desktop. The table foot uses the traditional joinery technology of eastern countries, relying on the combination of complex components and wood nails, without glue or nails. The groove in the middle of the desktop is used by the designer to display the original sketch, and a beautiful and unique furniture has been regenerated.
Designer Dean Brown revived a clock through different design ideas. He peeled off the original clock and reassembled it into a "master clock". The parts and decorative elements of the clock were relocated on a new black coated aluminum shell, highlighting the seesaw element that the sisters (users) loved. The original damaged clock was disassembled and the elements were deconstructed. On the basis of restoring the original use function of the item, the pattern symbols on the old Vine clock were retained, emphasizing its emotional elements, which is a good example of design helping sustainable development and resource reproduction.
The design proposal of this exhibition does not link sustainable development with sacrifice and inconvenience,but shows that sustainable development practice can be expressed in a desirable and purposeful way. Curator Hans Tan said, "People are inclined to link sustainable development with sacrifice and inconvenience. Through this exhibition, we hope people can experience the change of value. I don't necessarily expect them to feel that they need to save the world when they leave the exhibition. On the contrary, I hopetheywant to repair and preserve old things, which avoids landfills, which saves the world. "
Article Source:艺术与设计
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