A new perspective on design practice – objects that should be cared for

In her thesis, designer Helga Lára Halldórsdóttir challenges the relationship between people and objects, demonstrating that it can be about more than function and consumption. She investigated how design can encourage us to care for the things we own – and how care itself can become a way of using objects.

Her work resulted in several design examples in which the objects, in different ways, demand care. This has, for instance, created Pet Objects that needed to be combed or Needy Objects that wanted to be hugged.

“I investigated how our relationship with objects might change if they were not only used but primarily cared for. I have always been fascinated with how people react to objects, and in a way, I have been designing reactions through objects”, said Helga Lára Halldórsdóttir.

Highlighting the relationship to the objects

The thesis also aimed to draw attention to everyday acts of care that often go unnoticed. By making these visible, the relationship with existing objects could be reassessed and the understanding of what it means to own something deepened.

“I wanted to challenge the view of everyday maintenance and to abstract that I explored potential similarities between our relationship with products and our relationship with pets, focusing on materiality as an instigator and communicator of care”, she continued.

Care itself a form of use

One of the most important outcomes of the thesis was the proposal that care itself can constitute a form of use. This suggested an alternative way of understanding consumption, in which the relationship with what one owns is central.

In her work, Helga often collaborates with other artists and designers as well as work with external participants through user studies. 

“The different perspectives my collaborators and participants have contributed have been extremely rewarding. In a way, they have been very important supervisors through the journey that is a PhD”, she said.

What happens now after the public defence?

“Throughout my PhD studies, I placed a strong emphasis on exhibiting my work across various platforms. This is something I will continue to do, and I will also use exhibitions to broaden my scope as an artistic researcher. So, in a way, I am just continuing. Continuing to do research, continuing to work with other people, and continuing my obsession with body-object relationships.”

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Helga Halldórsdóttir publicly defended her doctoral thesis in design on 28 August at the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås.

Read the thesis Care Comb Connect?

Supervisor: Professor Clemens Thornquist

Read more about the research on Textiles and fashion