Ges creative sustainability in Shanghai

they can be customized, repaired and upcycled. Through fixing, painting, styling, tailoring, embellishing, and more, on-site artisans will show how items can be improved and kept in circulation, minimizing wastage.

Among the live demonstrations, a tattoo artist will paint skateboards; a team from Tongji University will use reconstituted plastic for jewelry making; there will be on-site 3D printing; and artisans will transform fabrics into postcards and bags.

“When I look at the different players I brought in to The Repair Shop, I don’t know what they’re going to create when they are together and I’m really excited to find out,” Collins said. “It will become a kind of engine for creativity and innovation, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.

“The Repair Shop is about building a community, both in terms of the participants and the audience. I want people to connect and exchange ideas.”

It’s often said that sustainability is not a destination but a journey.

“You can’t be sustainable but what you can do is to act more sustainably and that applies to all of us, from farmers using organic pesticides, to recycling their waste, through to designers using raw materials appropriately but, more importantly, designing for circularity because you can’t achieve circularity if you didn’t design for it in the beginning,” Collins said.

The panel discussions during The Repair Salon will focus on two topics: “Make the old better than the new,” and “How to design better from the start.”

The future of the design industry is identified by Collins as embracing sustainability, diversity and technology.

“Sustainability has to be a vital aspect of companies’ futures. I’m confident we are going to be working toward a good solution and I see China going to be at the forefront of that solution,” said the design thinker and speaker, who considers himself as a catalyst for brands, companies and institutions.

“I see AI being a fantastic tool. I’m not scared of it and I don’t think people should be. People should look for ways to work with it.”

What Collins finds exciting in Shanghai is that young people have the ability and opportunities to create their own concepts and make them happen.

“The costs of starting a new concept is way too high in the West but here, you can still do that. When I look around where I live, there are so many stores, little restaurants run by two or three people — they got together and they make it happen for themselves. That’s so liberating.”