PATCH PLAN - A Sewing Skills Revitalization Platform for the Elderly Based on the Recycling of Used Clothes
作者 / 李俐婷、黄雨晴、黄欣怡、黄梓雯、金小雅 指导教师：陆一晨
作品说明
补丁计划是一个基于旧衣再生的老年人技能活化平台。针对老龄化社会趋势下，老年人自我价值感缺失，社会联结感低的问题，我们通过社区信息整合，使周边年轻群体能够发现“隐形”的老年裁缝小店。一方面满足了年轻人对于衣物缝补的需要，另一方面通过衣物缝补，让老年人利用缝补技能搭建与社会的联接。同时，利用平台回收的具有故事的废弃衣物，为年轻人提供衣物修补/再设计的原材料，并引入设计师的角色，为衣物修补提供潮流的修补样式,提高年轻人对衣物修补的接受度，实现资源的回收和隐性共创。最后通过社区服务中心开办技能教授活动，扩大技艺拥有群体，帮助老年群体获得成就感和报酬，加强社区间的成员联结。
The Patch Plan is a skill revitalization platform for the elderly based on the regeneration of old clothes. In response to lack of self-worth and low sense of social connection of old people in the aging society , we integrate information from the community so that younger people in the surrounding area can find "invisible" elderly tailor stores. On the one hand, it meets the needs of young people for clothing mending, and on the other hand, through clothing mending, it allows the elderly to utilize their mending skills to build a connection with the society. At the same time, the platform recovers discarded clothes with stories, providing young people with raw materials for clothing repair and redesign.What's more,it introduces the role of designers to provide trendy repair styles for clothing repair to increase young people's acceptance of clothing repair , realizing the recycling of resources and implicit co-creation. Finally, through the community service center, skills teaching activities are set up to expand the skill owning group, help the elderly to obtain a sense of achievement and remuneration, and strengthen the connection between members of the community.
Challenge
Today, with the global population reaching 8 billion, the aging problem has become increasingly prominent. According to United Nations data, the global population over 65 years old has reached 761 million in 2021, and is expected to soar to 1.6 billion by 2050. The acceleration of population aging has brought new challenges to society. In order to actively respond to the aging of the population, my country has proposed a strategy of community home care for the elderly. Community building is considered an important means to achieve age-friendly community construction. By establishing a close social circle, we can provide care and warmth to the elderly while meeting their daily needs.
However, aging communities face a range of social problems, including community isolation and a diminished sense of social connectedness among older adults. The development of Internet technology has exacerbated this problem, and the elderly often feel more lonely because they are unfamiliar with new technologies. As the working capacity of the elderly decreases, especially retired people, they face additional difficulties in finding their sense of self-worth and existence. How to break the isolation of aging communities and enhance the elderly's sense of social participation and autonomy has become a current social problem that needs to be solved quickly.
Older people have a wealth of life experiences and skills, but society often tends to marginalize them. Using design as a means of empowerment to support the elderly's participation in services, stimulate their potential and creativity, and allow them to play a greater role in society can arouse society's respect and recognition of the elderly, enhance social cohesion, and also help build A more inclusive and caring society. This requires the joint efforts of society to break old stereotypes and create more opportunities for the elderly to contribute their unique value to society.
Process
Weifang New Village - This community located in Yixing City, Wuxi City has a total of 492 houses. It will be included in the renovation project of old residential areas in the main city in 2022. It plans to create a "15-minute" convenient living circle through contiguous renovation and realize the resources in the area. sharing to improve residents’ quality of life.
During the field investigation, the design team found that the clothing sewing skills of the elderly in the community had not been fully utilized and transformed, while the young groups in the surrounding communities expressed a need for repairs. However, due to insufficient service accessibility, it was difficult for the young groups to conveniently find services that could be repaired. Clothes repair services that meet their needs.
Through the intervention of design, the "minor repair" service for the elderly group and the "Remake" popular among young people are connected, which is expected to promote the matching of skills and needs and bring vitality and integration to the community. After further analyzing and studying the needs of young people for clothing repair, the design team obtained keywords such as trends and effect predictions.
Based on preliminary research, the design team conducted interviews and insights in and around Uifang New Village, gaining an in-depth understanding of the needs and problems of various groups of people, including elderly craftsmen, ordinary elderly people, community convenience centers, and surrounding young groups. Elderly people with tailoring skills run small shops with high skills. However, due to the remote location of the shop and lack of publicity, it is difficult to be discovered by young customers, resulting in limited communication opportunities. The rest of the elderly feel monotonous in their daily lives and are eager to communicate with young people, but are worried that young people will not be willing. When they need sewing, they often lack fabric reserves and the quality of the reserves is poor. Community convenience centers face problems such as insufficient community connectivity, difficulty in increasing income for the elderly, and loose management of daily activities. Young people in the surrounding areas are troubled by problems such as finding suitable sewing places, lack of community belonging, monotonous life, and poor quality of fabric reserves.
How Might We? How can we use the sewing skills of the elderly to provide help to the surrounding young people and gain better community connections? The design team raised the key issues of the design and clarified two main goals. On the one hand, how to efficiently obtain convenient life services around the living community and strengthen the connection between neighbors so that residents can quickly obtain convenient service assistance; on the other hand, How to make good use of the skills of the elderly group and establish closer interaction with the surrounding young groups so that the elderly can gain a sense of self-worth and reward.
Outcomes
After time, clothing will leave little traces, just like the marks of time in an old neighborhood. The elderly use sewing skills as a guide to repair the gaps in the community, while the young people are like lace, decorating the community and connecting everyone with invisible needlework. The fabric will become more unique and beautiful.
The Patch Project is a platform for activating the sewing skills of the elderly based on the regeneration of old clothes. By integrating community information, young people can discover elderly tailor shops and provide assistance to realize the recycling and co-creation of discarded clothes. At the same time, it promotes the elderly through skills teaching activities. Human fulfillment and community connection.
The system connects fabric recycling, young groups, elderly craftsmen and fashion designers, etc. By reducing the difficulty of obtaining fabrics, telling stories about second-hand fabrics, and introducing trendy designs, the system promotes the intersection of traditional craftsmanship and modern trends, forming an invisible co-creation mechanism for three-party interaction within the community.
Donors can easily donate used clothing and give the clothes an interesting story when filling in their donation information. The presence of designers injects fashion elements into old clothes. Designers can upload trendy clothes and modify the layout, providing more trendy and design-friendly sewing options. Elderly people join as clothing repair shops and receive fabrics from donors. Through publicity and drainage devices, attract young people to participate in co-creation and expand the influence of services.
Before repair: Before repair, young people can check the location, fabric pattern and repair reference layout of the elderly repair shop, and select their favorite store for navigation. Repairing: After arriving, the elderly communicate with the young people about the plan and carry out the actual repair work. After repair: After young people get the repaired product, they can share and upload it through the platform to form a sharing circle and enhance the user's sense of participation.
Finally, through cooperation with community service centers, the elderly teach skills to expand the service group, making the service process more complete and comprehensive, and promoting community co-creation and sustainable development.
The Patch Plan includes three creative achievements: a sustainable fashion brand based on the creative sewing of the elderly, an offline promotional and interactive device for the Patch Plan service, and an online creative sewing platform based on a mobile APP.
A sustainable fashion brand based on the creative sewing of older people.
An offline promotional and interactive device for patch plan services. The installation aims to activate the patch program and attract young people to participate in the old clothes recycling service that activates the skills of the elderly.
An online creative sewing platform based on mobile APP. The platform includes three main pages: home page, display wall, and my page. Users can search for store fabric types, browse the clothing modification formula library, and donate clothing.
Finally, the design team conducted detailed testing and actual execution of the project. The team established cooperation with the elderly tailor shop in the Uifang Xincun community, collected old clothes from college students, and recruited classmates to co-create the second-hand clothes. With the craftsmanship of the elderly, the second-hand clothes took on a new lease of life.
Impact
Combining traditional craftsmanship with contemporary innovation, old clothing becomes unique and interesting through co-creation and reinvention. By cooperating with elderly tailors in Uifang New Village, the design team successfully activated the skills of the elderly in the community and revitalized their traditional sewing skills. At the same time, the old clothes recycling and cleaning process in cooperation with college students not only effectively realizes the reuse of social resources, but also arouses the interest of the younger generation in sustainable fashion. The design provides a platform for the elderly to collaborate with the younger generation, promoting the inheritance of skills and the close connection between members of the community.
This model has the potential to be replicated in other communities. Introducing the craft activation and skill inheritance of the elderly into the wider community will help create a more cohesive community vitality. This kind of community-based innovation not only plays a role in cultural heritage, but is also expected to drive members of the community to work more closely together to create a more sustainable future.
Famifood-Family farming and food education services
作品说明
