The value of imperfection insustainable designThe emotional tie with perfectible artefacts for longer lifespan

Humankind is characterized by a strict relationship with artefacts, which interact with in order to carry out own activities or to enjoy their emotional aspects. The tendency towards accumulation have been terrifically increased in the last decades bringing to the Hyperconsumerism Society, that is an affluent society in a hypertrophy époque based on the creation of artificial needs for organized wasting (Lepovetsky, 2007). The aforementioned habits have been causing drastic environmental repercussions, mostly defined in the design phase (Thackara, 2005). To remediate to own responsibilities, designers have to make a radical ethical choice in order to become active agents in the transition towards sustainable ways of living (Manzini, 2006). Among the four potential approaches that designer can adopt for sustainability, “designing new production– consumption systems” appears to be one of the most promising (Vezzoli & Manzini, 2008). New sustainable patterns of consumption and production (SCP) have been increasingly studied and proposed even in international institutional level (OECD 2002), where durability and a revised relation with objects system is fostered. In the research here presented, alternative sustainable relationship between individuals and objects has been studied to prolong artefacts lifespan in their whole life-cycle; a new relation sustained by the rediscovery of the affective tie for the goal of the achievement of environmental gains. Artefacts are intrinsically addressed to support users in their life, thus they can be considered as living mutant entities, tending to change their appearance or even their function during the lifespan, as wrinkles or scars for humans. The study aims to give new value to what is generally addressed as “imperfect”, as uncompleted or endowing singular features, not allowed in standard industrial produce. Here imperfect features are studied as potential traces of the vitality of objects, reinforcing an emotional linking, in time and space. From a sustainability point of view, this aim is sustained by the consideration according to which: Design for sustainability does not necessarily imply any particular type of aesthetic or outer appearance for a product. […] And in further contrast to the current uniformity in product appearance that relies so heavily on ‘newness’, design for sustainability must also embrace the aging of products, the accumulation of meaning over time, and more profound notions of attachment and empathy. (Walker, 2009). Imperfection