R for Repair: London x Singapore

The newly opened R for Repair: London x Singapore, the second edition of the R for Repair exhibition, shines a timely spotlight on consumerism by showing how, with a little ingenuity, cherished but broken objects can be given both new meaning and a fresh lease of life.

Presented by DesignSingapore Council, National Design Centre (Singapore) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the second phase of the project makes its international debut at the V&A London. Co-curated by Hans Tan Studio (SG) and Jane Withers Studio (UK) as a London x Singapore exchange, R for Repair: London x Singapore is being shown during the London Design Festival (LDF) 2022 and in conjunction with Singapore Design Week.

*Doll’s House* by Studiomama and Doll’s House Furniture, part of *R for Repair 2022* // Image by Zuketa Film Production

The original exhibition debuted at the National Design Centre in Singapore in January 2021. Initiated by Hans Tan Studio and commissioned by DesignSingapore Council, the project sits within a growing landscape of initiatives designed to encourage a repair culture. As we address global waste output and the need to rethink our relationship to objects, R for Repair embraces our attachment to things and explores how creative repair can both preserve meaning and breathe new life into our possessions.

The first edition of R for Repair in 2021 featured a call out for people to submit broken objects as well as share the stories that gave these items significance. The objects were then passed on to designers for creative repair, with the brief of giving them a new persona or form while respecting the owner’s attachment. This process returns for the 2022 edition, presented at the V&A London.

Opening in time for London Design Festival 2022, this edition of R for Repair is a special exchange between the UK and Singapore with objects from both countries creatively repaired by a selection of Singaporean and UK designers. The exhibition includes 10 items repaired by 10 different designers for 2022, alongside three repaired objects from the original exhibition in 2021. The exhibition is on show in the V&A Design 1900–Now gallery in a display created by Nice Projects. Everything on display will be returned to the owners thereafter.

The co-curators comment:
“Though repair used to be the first response when something breaks down, current day hyper-consumption has diminished the transformative role of repair. It is important to reframe repair in the contemporary context through design, which I believe when done well, comes with a good value system for how we could consider ownership.” — Co-Curator, Hans Tan

"What interests me with this project is how we can create a richer understanding of repair culture. It celebrates the possibilities of repair as a creative process, something that adds new layers to an object’s identity and meaning—addressing the ‘emotional’ as well as the ‘functional’. — Co-Curator, Jane Withers

The charm of R for Repair lies in the stories behind the objects and their owners’ attachment to them, ranging from decorative objects (a wooden puffin, for instance) to the everyday items (a green glass bottle, a dog ball). The rich histories that accompany the objects, despite their fractured state, add a unique sense of character and sentiment to the items, inviting us to rethink the ways in which we, as a society, relate to old and damaged objects and ascribe value to the material items in our lives. Even a humble plate can tell an epic story, such as the tea saucer included in the exhibition that was smuggled out of Paris’ iconic Maxim’s restaurant by actress Jane Birkin in the 1970s. Submitted by Andrew and Karen Birkin, this memento to the fashion muse has been repurposed by designers STUDIO DAM.

Stories of loved ones and memories of celebratory life events are also attached to the various objects in the exhibition. These include a grandmother’s no-longer-working camera, which has been redesigned by Singaporean experimental architect and designer Syafiq Jubri—whose work focuses on drawing and mechanical design; and a shattered glass from a Jewish wedding ritual refashioned by London-based multidisciplinary artist, Attua Aparicio Torinos—who works at the intersection of design, craft and art.

The owners have kept these objects, despite the fact they have lost their utility or original form, highlighting an unseen element—an emotional connection—between object and owner. By entrusting these cherished broken objects to the designers, the owners are taking a leap of faith—demonstrating the belief in the value of creative repair, not only to preserve, but to add a new layer of memories.

Repaired Objects 2022: a selection

Puffin (nicknamed ‘Graham Secrets’)

*Puffin (Graham Secrets)* wooden toy repaired with rattan and thread, part of *R for Repair 2022* // Images by Zuketa Film Production
Owner: Oli Stratford (UK) // Repaired by: Ng Si Ying (SG) in Singapore, 2022

The Puffin is a contemporary edition of a classic wooden toy designed by Kay Bojesen in 1954. Nicknamed ‘Graham Secrets’ by its owner, it was a gift from his parents for his 30th birthday.

On submitting the puffin for repair, Oli wrote: “Unfortunately, Graham was attacked in the night by my cat Edward, and the poor lad has never been the same since. I tried to fix Graham’s wing, but it turns out that DIY kintsugi is really hard, and my puffin is now smeared in gold, which has stripped off the lacquer in blotches on his tummy, leaving him quite shabby and, if anything, has made the wing look even worse.”

Designer Ng Si Ying has fashioned a cast for the broken wing, using an intricate rattan weaving technique that covers the clumsy repairs and restores the toy’s dignity. In order to avoid using adhesive, the belt serves to hold the sling in place.

Sewing Chest

When the owner inherited this 18th century sewing chest from her grandmother, she discovered it contained sketches and watercolours that no one knew she had made.

Eleanor explained: “My grandmother was from a generation of women who lived very formally, and she didn't tend to speak about her passions. After her passing, I learnt she wanted to become an artist, but that this dream was halted when she had to become the family breadwinner in her teens. This piece of furniture represents that creative dream which never happened for her and reminds me how fortunate I am to have a career in the arts.”

Maker and designer Rio Kobayashi opened up the chest to form a tabletop, comparing the transformation to a flower blooming. The traditional Japanese joinery techniques used to raise the feet rely on a combination of intricate joints and wooden pegs that dispense with the need for glue or nails. The recess in the centre is intended to display the original sketches.

Saucer from Maxim’s de Paris

This saucer is part of a monogrammed dinner service produced by Maison Haviland for the famous restaurant Maxim’s de Paris. It was pinched in 1975 by actress and singer Jane Birkin for her brother Andrew, who submitted the piece for repair with his wife Karen.

Andrew recalled the night the plate was broken: "Jane secreted a few pieces of crockery into her voluminous basket. As we were leaving Maxim’s, bleary-eyed in the new year’s dawn, someone stopped her for an autograph. Jane put down her top-heavy wicker basket, whereupon it capsized, and to her toe-curling embarrassment, out rolled a dozen saucers and plates across the dining-room floor. The head waiter nonchalantly gathered them up and handed them back to Jane. ‘A gift from Maxim’s. If you require more, you only have to ask.’ Such is fame.”

When asked how far multidisciplinary design agency STUDIO DAM could go with their repair, Andrew responded they could make a spaceship out of it. The repair is inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey, which Andrew Birkin worked on early in his career. This is STUDIO DAM’s take on Juci — 锔瓷, a Chinese porcelain repair technique centred around the use of metal staples.

Doll’s House Furniture

The furniture is thought to have been purchased from a German toy shop called Spielwaren Kurtz in Stuttgart in the late 1960s or early 1970s by the owner’s parents. These are the few remaining pieces from a cherished doll’s house and furniture collection.

Charlotte recounted: “My sisters and I each had a small doll’s house—more like a sophisticated cardboard box which our father had made. Every Christmas, these doll’s houses would be brought to us by Father Christmas with one or two new items of furniture or accessories. We could not wait to start playing, decorating, furnishing, and throwing elaborate parties inside the dolls’ houses. Of course, the scale of the items does not match at all—but we never noticed.”

A repair can sometimes consist of bringing back what was missing—in this case, the Doll’s House itself. Taking inspiration from Charlotte’s original doll’s house and adding the sliding door/wall she always wished for, Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama of Studiomama have created a new stage for the furniture and associated stories to live on.

Winnie the Pooh Clock

This clock features characters from Winnie the Pooh, a collection of stories created by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard in 1926, and later licenced to Walt Disney Productions. After 21 years of use, the clock stopped working a few months ago.

Stacey Yip recalls: “This clock was a housewarming gift from our dad’s Japanese friend when we were just 4 and 6 years old. Over the years, the clock progressively lost some of its functions—starting with the rocking motion of the see-saw, the hourly musical tune falling silent and the disintegration of the graphics on the metal backplate. We cannot remember a time without this clock.”

Dean Brown of Brown Office stripped the original clock back to its components and recomposed it as a ‘grandfather clock’ that prominently features the sisters’ beloved see-saw element. Emphasising the global nature of this artifact, two smaller clocks have been added to mark the time of the Walt Disney Company and Hundred Acre Wood, the fictitious location of the Winnie the Pooh stories.

My Grandma’s Camera

Designed to be held vertically, this Taron Chic camera was originally released in Japan in 1961. It belonged to Rachael’s grandmother, who retired early to embark on a life of travel with her husband in a campervan from 1986 to 2008.

Rachael, who is now following in her grandmother’s footsteps by refurbishing a campervan herself, said: “I love the idea of experiencing the world as my grandparents did and I hope to drive to Morocco, which was their favourite destination. This camera doesn’t work anymore, but it has a lot of value to us as a family so I’m looking forward to seeing how it might be transformed."

Architect and designer Syafiq Jubri has restored the camera by mending the mechanical fault in the gear assembly. Challenging the idea of the camera as a ‘perfect translator of light’, he has added a rotating mirror that captures blind spots and a green feather that ‘tickles the light’ to give the photographs a more playful and spontaneous character.

Justin and Sheere’s Clock Radio (one of the Repaired Objects 2021 also on show):

*Justin and Sheere’s Clock Radio*, repaired story-telling alarm clock, part of *R for Repair 2021* // Image by KHOOGJ
Owner: Justin Zhuang and Sheere Ng (SG) // Repaired by: Clement Zheng (SG) in Singapore 2020

Owners Justin Zhuang and Sheere Ng explain: “We bought this clock while studying in the US. As we were living apart and alone at one point—Sheere was in Boston, while I was in New York—I got each of us a clock radio to provide some background noise in the house. While searching on eBay, I was intrigued by the name and design of this series of ‘Dream Machines’ from Sony. I ended up buying two different second-hand models and this retro-looking one was for Sheere, which she brought over to New York eventually. It became our companion as our apartment is along a quiet street. We literally fell asleep, dreamt and woke up to this clock radio. It became so symbolic of our time overseas that we brought it back to Singapore for our new home. Alas, I blew the fuse when I plugged it in. I should have listened to my wife who warned me that the two countries use different voltages!”

Clement Zhang, repair designer comments: “An ever-present bedside companion while in the US, this alarm clock radio met its demise when plugged into a Singapore wall socket. The repaired object tells the time again; and also recounts eleven stories written by the owners about their time overseas. A new story is triggered with each press of the snooze button, rendered through scrolling text on a bespoke LED panel, and to the tune of white noise generated by the refurbished radio speakers.”

R for Repair: London x Singapore runs until 30 October 2022 at the V&A South Kensington in Gallery 76, Design 1900–Now | Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Victoria and Albert Museum | R for Repair: London x Singapore

‘R for Repair: London x Singapore’ at the V&A London

The newly opened R for Repair: London x Singapore, the second edition of the R for Repair exhibition, shines a timely spotlight on consumerism by showing how, with a little ingenuity, cherished but broken objects can be given both new meaning and a fresh lease of life.

Repaired Objects 2022: a selection