Hans Tan, Tiffany Loy & Hunn Wai

Making Design Circular with Katie Treggiden

How can broken items be given new value? Is repair only to be used when an object is spoiled or broken? Can repair be aspirational?

On today’s episode, I’m talking to Hans Tan, Tiffany Loy and Hunn Wai from the R for Repair exhibition, which ran from 13 January until 6 February 2021 at the National Design Centre, Singapore. The exhibition, curated by Tan, shone a timely spotlight on global waste by showing how broken or discarded items can be given new value.

We discuss:

- R for Repair, the exhibition and their approach to researching and curating it.

- How sustainability can be articulated and practiced in an attractive, purposeful way.

- How opinions towards mending and repair are changing.

- Their perspective on repair in Asian culture.

- How repair helps us appreciate the way things are made.

… and more!

Here are some highlights.

Hans Tan’s approach to R for Repair

“I think one thing that I reflected on was the fact that in most Asian cultures, mending is seen as something you do only when you can't afford to replace something that is spoiled or broken or torn. And so that's why buying something new on a festive occasion, like Chinese New Year, was something important, and a sign of prosperity. In the Asian context, I think mending is also not a profession that anyone would want to aspire to do as a professional. For me, it was really important to reposition repair as an aspirational activity that could generate an inspirational outcome. And what better way to do it than to work with designers in Singapore?”

Why repair and mending contributes to sustainability, according to Hunn Wai

“I think it gives a lot of ownership and autonomy to the user. It shows you, ‘Oh, I never knew you could do it that way.’ I think that there's quite a nice sense of renewed ownership and also confidence in your own capabilities. I think repairing also helps you to appreciate the amount of work and engineering and ingenuity that has gone into that object. I think one part of the equation for sustainability is the appreciation of how things are put together and how things are made. I think a huge part of why the world is not sustainable is because we’ve become so numb to these things. We don't appreciate these things.”

Tiffany Loy’s approach to the bag she repaired for the exhibition

“I think flipping something inside out, just to continue using it seems very much aligned to Arnold’s attitude. Like, you just wanna keep using it until it's not possible to use it anymore. So when I first received it, I had a good look at the bag just to get to know it and to highlight all the areas that were fragile, areas that I need to take care of. I did iron on some tape just to patch up the holes, just so they didn’t get bigger. But then when I saw how well maintained the inside was, surprisingly, I decided that we should just show that instead. But then, of course, I couldn't just end there. I think Hans might be disappointed if I just stopped there. And because the inner lining was quite delicate, I definitely added an additional material. Again, I could have just stitched a piece of fabric all over it, but I thought that might be a bit boring and I wanted to do something a bit more fancy and be a bit more indulgent, so I decided to make it mesh.”

Connect with Hans Tan here.

Connect with Tiffany Loy here.

Connect with Hunn Wai here.

About Katie Treggiden

Katie Treggiden is a purpose-driven journalist, author, podcaster and keynote speaker championing a circular approach to design – because Planet Earth needs better stories. With 20 years' experience in the creative industries, she regularly contributes to publications such as The Guardian, Crafts Magazine, Design Milk and Monocle24. Following research during her recent Masters at the University of Oxford, she is currently exploring the question ‘can craft save the world?’ through an emerging body of work that includes her fifth book, Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020), and this podcast.

You can find Katie on Instagram @katietreggiden.1, sign up for her e-newsletter here and if you’re a designer-maker interested in becoming more sustainable, sign up for her free Facebook Group here. If you’d like to support more fantastic content like this, you can buy Katie a ‘virtual coffee’ here in exchange for behind the scenes content and a shout-out in Season Three.

Waste: A masterclass is a 12-week programme conceived to inspire, educate and empower designer-makers to create circular products from waste. Click here to find out more or visit katietreggiden.com/masterclass.