South Australian artists revive treasured artefacts in unique restoration project

Above: Andrew Carvolth with the Khai Liew chair he restored as part of the Transformative Repair project. Photo: Alex Robertson

Repair, recycle, reuse, reclaim – there’s a revival happening which is all about valuing resources and living more sustainably.

TR x JamFactory is the current phase of an Australian Research Council funded research on creative forms of repair and reuse. This phase explores the conceptual and applied practices of designers, craftspeople and visual artists in a union with owners of broken objects as clients, as mediated by the researchers.

A collection of treasured items restored by over 12 designers, artists and craftspeople as part of an innovative arts project illustrating the importance of reuse and repair will be presented in an exhibition which opens 5 April 2024 at JamFactory, Adelaide and runs until 21 April.

The ‘Transformative Repair’ project is led by University of South Australia Enterprise Fellow Dr Guy Keulemans, and designer Dr Trent Jansen of UNSW in partnership with craft and design institution JamFactory.

A series of video essays about each work in the project will be released up to and during the exhibition run.

Learn more at transformativerepair.net