Towards Understanding Owner–Object Detachment and Promoting Object Longevity

Designing for object detachment offers potential for extending an object’s lifespan and reducing environmental impact. The philosophy and theory of care-giving in nursing practice may be usefully adapted and applied to the care of possessions. Care-giving behaviour towards objects includes maintaining and repairing them, but also letting them go gracefully, and has potential implications for sustainable design. Little research has explored applying the concept of ‘carative factors’ (love and charity, and the motive of all caring) to the design process. This study introduces a toolkit based on four motive caring factors and influential factors, and reports on an exploratory workshop, in which participants use the toolkit to generate design concepts. The results suggest that the concept of carative factors has value in the design processes for extending the lifespan of objects, and the toolkit provides better understanding for designers of ownership, disposal and reuse.