Abstract
Building on the robust research confronting the ecological impacts of planned obsolescence, this paper argues for a new framework of intelligibility for objects that are accessible, repairable, adaptable, and garner prestige and cultural legibility. Termed “timewise design,” this framework understands that the solutions to disposability in design require that objects sit at the nexus of influences. They must confront the century of industrial design choices that have removed the consumer’s body from accessing the inner workings, thus able to repair and maintain our technologies. While “user-friendliness” in design has allowed complex technologies to enter the lives of the everyday consumer, it has removed the embodied depth required for long-term maintenance. Timewise design reorients this relationship to build a connecting thread across designs made for the long now. In this approach, objects are built for planned durability through shifting embodied relationships to interiors with modular and repairable elements. These objects dovetail with creative adaptability that allows the object to meet cultural specificity. Finally, such objects coopt social status and prestige by framing these approaches as a new mode of cultural capital. Nodding to the wide range of examples that fit the “timewise design” approach, this paper offers a deep analysis of two primary examples: Dieter Rams’ Vitsœ 606 Universal Shelving System (1960) and the recent Framework Laptop (started in 2020). These examples illustrate how timewise design reimagines the lifespan of objects, not as a countdown to obsolescence, but as a continuum of unfolding meaning.
Presenters
Jason FarmanProfessor and Associate Dean, The Graduate School, University of Maryland, Maryland, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Design Across Time
KEYWORDS
Sustainable Design, Repair, Design Theory, Industrial Design, Planned Obsolescence
