Repair and Design Futures

A humble act first born of necessity, repair is an expression of resistance to the unmaking of our world and the environment. Repair and Design Futures is a multidisciplinary exhibition and programming series that investigates mending as material intervention, metaphor, and as a call to action. 

In this context, repair is framed as a useful exercise applied to beloved textiles and as a global, socially engaged practice within contemporary art and design culture, addressing environmental and sociopolitical ruptures. Objects range from Japanese boro garments and Indian Kutch quilts to a hunter’s ensemble from Mali, a Naskapi caribou coat, Swiss worker’s trousers, and fashionable and utilitarian American clothing. 

Close examination of darns, patches, and stabilized areas of these emotive, often everyday objects acts as a springboard to considering and discussing the ways in which mending can serve as a visual and emotional aid to socially engaged design thinking.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.