xiaodong ma’s 'repairing society' revives broken objects through kintsugi and 3D printing

‘repair society’ invites stronger bonds with used objects

Xiaodong Ma’s Repairing Society is a social critique via design, proposing that we repair, not replace. Deviating from the overconsumption and planned obsolescence of modern life, it invites people to cultivate stronger and more long-term relationships with objects through the design practice of Repair (‘old is better than new’), Graft (‘recombine for repurpose’), and Autotomy (‘design for repair’). Through repeated repair while reviving traditional methods of restoration and creation, the initiative hopes to create more opportunities for skilled artisans and also empowers citizens to become repair people too.

Embracing the old and used, the project is thusly inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold. It accordingly embraces breakages as part of the valuable history of an object, rather than defects to conceal. As such, a fragmented piggy bank, plate, cup, and resin dish are given new life with gold that highlights the damage instead of concealing it — the gilded joineries bearing traces of the stories of its owner. Meanwhile, an old basket is repaired with 3D printing and scanning, presenting new possibilities of both craftsmanship and use. 

all images courtesy of Xiaodong Ma

Repair, graft, and autonomy

Through repeated Repair, while reviving traditional methods of restoration and creation, the initiative hopes to create more opportunities for skilled artisans and also empowers citizens to become repair people too. A withering rattan basket is restored half to its original state, and half with 3D printed woven PLA, deeming it difficult to be defined as old or new. A broken dish is also repaired with clear resin by newly trained repairmen. The transparency of the material cherishes its lived past, as each broken vine declaring the history of the dish can be clearly observed.

Designer Xiaodong Ma also adopts the horticultural technique of Graft, or Graftage, whereby plant tissues are joined to facilitate growth together. The broken fragments can be recombined and repurposed into a new product which extends the function and usability of the originals, and at the same time, it savors the original objects, or parts of them, to allow owners to continue cultivating bonds within them. This method has given rise to newly revived kitchen utensils: a colander is grafted into a soup spoon by filling its holes with plastic, while a spatula is fashioned from a plastic barbecue fork.

xiaodong ma proposes design intended to break

Autonomy is also a design ethic embraced for Repairing Society, intentionally designing objects to be gracefully broken and repurposed with ease. ‘We design for a long arc of use, and an evolving appearance and meaning,’ says Xiaodong Ma. Ma proposes that designers can plan an object’s afterlife from the outset as well as considering how they will be used. For instance, the Autonomy Bowl is conceived by keeping in mind that ceramic bowls tend to break at their thinnest points – the walls and rims – while the base usually stays complete. It accordingly features five bases that break into predicted fragments that can then be easily repaired and grafted – ‘it is a bowl holding the potential for five future lives.’ The Autonomy Cup likewise connects with its handle via weak joints and once broken, it detaches from the joint instead of its handle and body, leaving just clean parts for repair.

Repairing Society was envisioned to spark a lasting shift of both perception and action, not only for consumers on how to consume, but also for designers on how to make. ‘I believe this could provide readers with insights to boldly speculate an alternative way of consumption and production that is opposed to the current throw-away society,’ notes designer Xiaodong Ma.

project info:

name: Repairing Society
designer: Xiaodong Ma

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom