Object Make-Overs

Yahşibey Design Workshops, Izmir, 2013

Renewing old objects and dysfunctional infrastructural systems can also transform the creative attitudes, aesthetic skills and social relations of people who become involved in doing repair work. Miné and Lydia proposed that it is possible to merge “fixing things” with “playing together.” We want to stimulate poignant and delightful discussions about our daily lives--and the role of design within them- while giving utilitarian objects new meanings and surprising functions.

The goal of Object Make-Overs, as the 30th workshop was to catalyse new forms of collaborative exchange between our Yahşibey Design Workshops community and the residents of Yahşibey village by first archiving broken objects--from children’s toys to second-hand furniture to moth-eaten jackets. The histories and personal meanings that these objects have carried within them were chronicled as a starting point to stimulate their re-design. Cultivating an open-ended, playful attitude towards repairing these broken objects became the focus of our activities. We also designed forums/ events that invited local children and adults to co-design with us, generating a series of “workshops within our workshop.”

Read the paper published in the conference proceedings of Cumulus Design Conference 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa
View the presentation of the workshop for further reading

Workshop led by  Miné Ovacık and Lydia Mathews

Poster Design by Orhan Okay
Photography by Miné