Don't recycle: Repair!

Knowledge / Events / Product design

The Premsela Design Forum on Repairing held in Milan during the design week promises to be a lively discussion about the value of repairing things in a throwaway society.

By Editor Design.nl /asdf 08-04-2009

Recycling is a contemporary code word people often use when talking about responsible, conscious production. At its Milan design forum on Wednesday 22 April, Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion, will focus attention on an all-but-forgotten alternative path to reuse: repairing broken and damaged items.

Repairing is environmentally friendly, but it also changes the relationship between object and user from superficial to enduring and unique. To repair is to restore and renew. When a missing or broken part is replaced, a product’s character can change radically. Countless repair manuals and links to repair sites can be found on Planet Green and YouTube. At the Premsela Design Forum, our point of departure will be the cultural and social aspects of repair.

Renowned speakers including Piet Hein Eek (designer), Corinne Poux-Bernard (Director of Innovations, Hermes), Satyendra Pakhale (cultural nomad) and Joanna van der Zanden (Artistic Director, Platform21), led by moderator Marco Bevolo (independent author), will share their views on the value of repair in the context of the global economic crisis. The Premsela Design Forum will be introduced by the Dutch Minister of Culture, Ronald Plasterk. The forum forms part of the continuing research and manifesto of Platform21 on Repairing. In 2008, Premsela hosted the design forum in Milan on the phenomenon of limited-edition showpieces.

Premsela Design Forum on Repairing
Wednesday 22 April 2009
Romeo Gigli Cafe, Via Angelo Fumagalli 6, Milan
(metro: M2, stop: Porta Genova / tram 2 / bus 74)
Doors open: 18:30
Discussion start: 19:00
Cocktails: 20:30 until 22:00
Free admission

Image: Thonet chair repaired by Harco Rutgers
Photography: Leo Veger