The Metamorphosis of Products: a Sustainable Design Strategy That Favours Increased Attachment

With the rapid change of consumer trends and the evolution of technology, users are losing the emotional attachment they used to have with their belongings. At an increasing rate, people replace their products, even if still fully functional. The idea of throwaway consumption is now spreading to “hard” consumer goods: computers and electronic apparatus, leisure equipment, domestic appliances, etc. and this is having disastrous effects on the environment. How can this make sense in the perspective of sustainable development? This paper de- scribes the Metamorphosis approach: a strategy based on the idea that objects could change and evolve through time, thus promoting stronger emotional ties with their owners who would be less inclined to throw them away. A number of experiments were conducted, showing that Rapid Prototyping technology can be used to transform and modify products. The first phase of this project focused on giving new life to products that are usually dis- carded. In the second phase, the research team designed objects from scratch – a number of lamps – while anticipating a second life from the initial stages of the design process. The various projects are described and show the potential of the Metamorphosis strategy as a new tool for sustainable design