Abstract
This research paper looks repair and repairpersons as propagators of design for sustainability. The idea of discard, upgrade, consumerism and mono-cultural globalized world of objects is forever questioned through the idea of longevity, repurpose and customization. Originating in adversity, due to scarcity and as coping mechanisms, these localized solutions afford us designers the pluriverse - many worlds together. The paper also tries to define what could be open-design and longevity in design through case studies of a street tailor and a cobbler, in the city of Ahmedabad, India. The repairperson as designer through examples of repair, recycle, repurpose and reuse give add to the sustainability paradigm and the generate a new value of things. These case studies could be used to develop a framework for inclusive design actions through acceptance of multiple worlds of making. This could also equip designers and design educators for new methodologies of coping in uncertain futures.
Keywords
Repair as design; resourcefulness; design in the real world; open-design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/pluriversal.2020.103
Citation
Beniwal, S.(2020) New worlds with some tinkering…, in Leitão, R., Noel, L. and Murphy, L. (eds.), Pivot 2020: Designing a World of Many Centers - DRS Pluriversal Design SIG Conference, 4 June, held online. https://doi.org/10.21606/pluriversal.2020.103
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
New worlds with some tinkering…
This research paper looks repair and repairpersons as propagators of design for sustainability. The idea of discard, upgrade, consumerism and mono-cultural globalized world of objects is forever questioned through the idea of longevity, repurpose and customization. Originating in adversity, due to scarcity and as coping mechanisms, these localized solutions afford us designers the pluriverse - many worlds together. The paper also tries to define what could be open-design and longevity in design through case studies of a street tailor and a cobbler, in the city of Ahmedabad, India. The repairperson as designer through examples of repair, recycle, repurpose and reuse give add to the sustainability paradigm and the generate a new value of things. These case studies could be used to develop a framework for inclusive design actions through acceptance of multiple worlds of making. This could also equip designers and design educators for new methodologies of coping in uncertain futures.