This Australian Research Council funded Linkage project, led by UniSA Enterprise Fellow Dr Guy Keulemans in partnership with JamFactory and the Australian Design Centre, explores the creative repair and reuse of consumer products as a service provided by designers, craftspeople and visual arts professionals.
In partnership with the Australian Design Centre (ADC), UniSA, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and JamFactory Craft and Design, and funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), this project develops and tests new models for the sustainable use of materials and products, establishing new opportunities for consumers, collectors and the public to thoughtfully and beautifully repair their broken things.
Image below: Transformed Yael Stone’s 2008 Vespa LX125 by David Caon
The project will generate new knowledge in design-based repair and reuse of consumer products to develop a community of craft and design practitioners, audience and clientele. It responds to the pressing cultural and environmental burden of product obsolescence and consumer waste through innovation in transformative repair – a designed reworking of broken or discarded consumer objects that transforms their aesthetic appeal and cultural value.
Using transition design theory, localised progressions of the transformative repair model foster knowledge exchange between partner organisation while contributing to a sustainable design economy in Australia.
In 2022, the first phase of research culminated in an auction at the ADC, in which unique broken objects and products, donated by notable climate change activists, creatives and champions of design from Sydney and the Illawarra, were transformed by leading Australian artists and designers and sold by Australian design auctioneer Andrew Shapiro.
Image below: transformed Bianca Spender garments and sunlounge ‘Belonging’ by Lucy McRae 2021
In 2023 the research continues in collaboration with JamFactory Craft and Design Centre in Adelaide, developing transformative repair services using a client commission process.
Research team
Lead Investigator: Guy Keulemans (UniSA)
Co-Investigator: Trent Jansen (UNSW)
Partner Investigators: Lisa Cahill (ADC) and Brian Parkes (JamFactory)
Advisory Committee: Liane Rossler, Gay Hawkins and Joanna van der Zanden
Funding support
Australian Research Council Linkage Projects
Partners
Publications
Transformative Repair x ADC Auction catalogue June 9th 2022
Key contact
Guy Keulemans
