Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Visit
  • Exhibitions & Events
  • Art & Design
  • Search

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • The Collection
  • Projects & Publications
  • Past Exhibitions

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Japanese, Noragi (workcoat), mid-1800s. Elizabeth T. and Dorothy N. Casey Fund.
dosa, Travel Coat, 2014. Edgar J. Lownes Fund.
B. Earley, Lace Blouse (Top 100 Recycled Shirts Project), 2008. Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund.
G-Star RAW, _Jean

Introduction

Repair and Design Futures

October 5, 2018 - June 30, 2019

Repair is the creative destruction of brokenness.
—Elizabeth V. Spelman, Repair: The Impulse to Restore in a Fragile World

Repair, a humble act born of necessity, expresses resistance to the unmaking of our world and the environment. This exhibition and programming series, Repair and Design Futures, investigates mending as material intervention, metaphor, and call to action. Spanning the globe and more than three centuries, these objects reveal darns, patches, and stabilized areas that act as springboards to considering socially engaged design thinking today. Repair invites renewed forms of social exchange and offers alternative, holistic ways of facing environmental and social breakdown.

On display in this multiuse gallery space are costume and textile objects from the collections of the RISD Museum and Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology. In Café Pearl (at the Benefit Street entrance) and the Donghia Costume and Textile Gallery and Study Center (sixth floor), related exhibitions investigate additional approaches to repair. Through this informal, expansive format, we hope to encourage engagement across a broad spectrum of perspectives.

Kate Irvin
Curator, Costume and Textiles Department
RISD Museum

Events

Performances and Screenings

Stitching Alive Her Unseen Desires

January 15, 2019 / 10:30 am-3 pm
Performances and Screenings

Stitching Alive Her Unseen Desires

January 16, 2019 / 10:30 am-3 pm
Performances and Screenings

Stitching Alive Her Unseen Desires

January 17, 2019 / 10:30 am-8 pm
Performances and Screenings

Stitching Alive Her Unseen Desires

January 18, 2019 / 10:30 am-3 pm
Talks and Conversations

Work in Process

FANTASY ISLAND
January 22, 2019 / 11 am-4 pm
Talks and Conversations

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
February 3, 2019 / 12-2 pm
Talks and Conversations

Work in Process

The Lost Art of Garment Grooming and Mending in the Modern Age
February 3, 2019 / 1-4 pm
Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
February 17, 2019 / 1:30-4 pm
Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
February 21, 2019 / 3-5 pm
Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
February 28, 2019 / 1:30-4 pm
Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
March 3, 2019 / 12-3 pm
Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
March 7, 2019 / 1:30-4 pm
Talks and Conversations

Global Dialogues

Sustainable Development in African Fashion
March 8, 2019 / 1:30-2:30 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Repair // Heal: Mending the Self

Our Healing / Weaving Principles
March 10, 2019 / 12:30-2:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Global Dialogues

Reparative Cultures
March 12, 2019 / 12-1 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Repair // Heal: Mending the Self

Our Healing / Weaving Principles
March 17, 2019 / 12:30-2:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Global Dialogues: Preserving Memories

March 20, 2019 / 12-1:30 pm
Workshops and studios

Art+Feminism Wikipedia Editathon

March 21, 2019 / 5-8:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Global Dialogues: Decolonizing Design and Mapping Indigenous Futures

March 21, 2019 / 6:30-7:30 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair: Interactive Mending

March 24, 2019 / 2-4 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

POSTPONED: Repair // Heal: Mending the Self

Our Healing / Weaving Principles
March 24, 2019 / 12:30-2:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Work in Process: Textile Conservation

March 27, 2019 / 12-1 pm
Performances and Screenings

Strand

March 29, 2019 / 10 am-3 pm
Performances and Screenings

Strand

March 30, 2019 / 10 am-3 pm
Performances and Screenings

Strand

March 31, 2019 / 10 am-3 pm
Performances and Screenings

Strand

April 2, 2019 / 10 am-3 pm
Talks and Conversations

Gallery Conversation: Repairing the Future

April 3, 2019 / 12-1 pm
Performances and Screenings

Strand

April 3, 2019 / 10 am-3 pm
Talks and Conversations

Where is Africa?

April 3, 2019 / 6:30-8:30 pm
Performances and Screenings

Strand

April 4, 2019 / 10 am-3 pm
Other events

Strand

April 5, 2019 / 10 am-3 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Canceled-Expressive Repair: Interactive Mending

April 7, 2019 / 2-4 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair: Interactive Mending

April 11, 2019 / 1:30-4 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair: Interactive Mending

April 12, 2019 / 10:30 am-1 pm
Talks and Conversations

Gallery Conversation: re PLACE - Rescheduled to 5/30/2019

April 17, 2019 / 12-1 pm
Talks and Conversations

Decolonizing Design, Imagining Alternative Futures

April 18, 2019 / 6:30-8 pm
Talks and Conversations

Gallery Conversation: Designs for the Pluriverse

April 19, 2019 / 12:30-2 pm
Workshops and studios

One Gun Gone presents “Running the Numbers”

April 20, 2019 / 1-4 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair: Interactive Mending

April 21, 2019 / 12-3 pm
Talks and Conversations

A Conversation about Repair

with Jorge Otero-Pailos
April 25, 2019 / 1-2:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Work in Process: Frame Restoration

April 25, 2019 / 12-1 pm
Talks and Conversations

Global Dialogues: The Repair of Place

April 26, 2019 / 12-1 pm
Talks and Conversations

On Repair: Kader Attia

May 2, 2019 / 5-6:30 pm
Workshops and studios

Re-Knitting The Social

May 5, 2019 / 11 am-4 pm
Workshops and studios

Re-Knitting The Social

May 5, 2019 / 11 am-4 pm
Talks and Conversations

The Art of Race

Repair and Design Futures
May 16, 2019 / 6-7:30 pm
Workshops and studios

Visible Mending Workshop

May 16, 2019 / 1-8:30 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair: Interactive Mending

May 28, 2019 / 12-2:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Gallery Conversation

re PLACE
May 30, 2019 / 12-1 pm
Talks and Conversations

Conversation: Ruffles, Repair & Ritual

The Fine Art of Fixing
June 2, 2019 / 11 am-1 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
June 2, 2019 / 1-3:30 pm
Performances and Screenings

Ruffles, Repair & Ritual

The Fine Art of Fixing in Repair and Design Futures
June 6-9, 2019
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
June 16, 2019 / 2-4 pm
Talks and Conversations Workshops and studios

Expressive Repair

Interactive Mending
June 18, 2019 / 12-2:30 pm
Performances and Screenings

Beyond Repair

June 20, 2019 / 7-7:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Stitching Life into Old Clothes

June 22, 2019 / 1-3 pm
Performances and Screenings Screening Third Thursday

Ruffles, Repair & Ritual: the Fine Art of Fixing

at the RISD Museum
August 15, 2019 / 5-9 pm
Screening

Ruffles, Repair & Ritual: the Fine Art of Fixing

at the RISD Museum
October 17, 2019 / 6-8:30 pm
Talks and Conversations

Repairing for the Future: Lessons from Mended Textiles

Presented with Age-Friendly RI
September 25, 2020 / 12-1 pm

More Events

Projects & Publications

Articles

A Counter Monument FUBU

Happenings Locally Made Artist
Performance Documentation By Becci Davis Happenings Locally Made Artist In this durational performance, artist Becci Davis attempted to repair the ancestral wounds of American history, through a series of deliberate gestures. These ruptures are incurred through the continued presence of Confederate monuments in her home state and absence of public sites to make amends for the exploitation, mistreatment, and erasure of local enslaved populations.

Continue

"Two Boots" and Four Portraits

Perspectives
By Brian Goldberg Perspectives The RISD Museum’s 2009 acquisition of the Richard Brown Baker collection included two drawings by the English artist Howard Selina—Cowboy Hat (1974) and Two Boots (1974)—carefully and precisely rendered drawings in graphite on paper of well-worn, utilitarian garments.

Continue

Design as Repair

Curator Perspectives
The Dosa Travel Coat By Kate Irvin Curator Perspectives Dubbed a travel coat by artist and designer Christina Kim, this is a garment made for journeys long and far, both real and imagined, for traversing territories in the mind as much as in the physical world.

Continue

Selected Objects

American

infant's dress, 1800-1850

American

Stocking, early 1900s

American

Stocking, early 1900s

American

Tie-on pocket, late 1700s

American

Sock, 1870-1875

Conceucion LaGuardia, maker

Darning and Decorative Embroidery Sampler, mid 1800s

American

Stocking, 1875

English

Abolitionist Furnishing Textile, early 1800s

Dutch

Darning Sampler, 1773

English

Sock, ca. 1930

American

Stocking, ca. 1900

Japanese

Buddhist Monks’ Stole (Ohi), ca. 1800

American

Child's Coat, ca. 1840

American

Patchwork Quilt Topper, 1800-1849

Clara A. Rorden, maker

Pratt Institute Sewing Workbook (Patch Repair Samples), 1902

American or English

Stocking, early 1900s

Christophe Philippe Oberkampf, manufacturer

Medallions Antiques (Antique Medallions) (Furnishing Fabric), ca. 1800

Apsáalooke (Crow) Native North American

Moccasins, late 1800s-early 1900s

Kashmiri, Kashmir

Shawl, 1820-1830

Santee Native North American

Child's Jacket, 1860/1865

Portuguese or Spanish

Furnishing Textile, 1700 - 1725

French American

Tie-on pocket, late 1700s

Mary Schenck Woolman, author

A Sewing Course, 1901

Apsáalooke (Crow) Native North American, Montana

Saddle Bag, late 1800s

Kuba Kingdom, Republic of Congo

Woman’s Ceremonial Skirt, before 1950

Rebecca Earley, design label

Lace Blouse (Top 100 Recycled Shirts Project), 2008

Alabama Chanin, design label

Dress, Fall 2007

Dosa, design label

Jennifer Wrap Skirt, 2008

Maison Martin Margiela, design house

Women's Top, ca. 2005

Kutch, Gujarat India

Quilt (Ralli), 1900s

Japanese

Work Coat (Noragi), late 1800s-mid-1900s

Swiss

Work Trousers, 1940s

Peggy Jim Osceola

Stomp Dance Skirt for Green Corn Ceremony, 1960s

Adele Stafford, designer and weaver

VOI Shirt (Agrarian Twill, no. 6 of 8), 2014

Italian

Woman's Shift or Underdress, 1875 - 1920

Dosa, design label

Travel Coat (with separate belt), 2014

Maison Martin Margiela, design house

Jacket, Autumn/Winter 2005

Bengali

Kantha Quilt, 1800s

Japanese

Robe Worn by a Zen Buddhist Mendicant Monk (Koromo or Jikitotsu), ca. 1920-1930s

Larry Krone

Then and Now (Circles: Coreopsis Moonbeams, Irises, Poppies, Forest Road), 2016

Ghanaian

Man’s Robe (Fugu), mid 1900s

Kohistani

Child’s Amulet Vest, 1900s
No Image Available

Ewe Ghanaian

Chief’s Mantle, early 1900s
No Image Available

Tanzanian Iraqw East African

Young Woman's Skirt, 1900-1939

Japanese

Short Coat (Hanten), mid 1800s

Korean

Patchwork Wrapping Cloth (Chogak po pojagi), ca. 1950

G-Star RAW, design label

Jeans, ca. 2005
No Image Available

Faye Toogood, designer

The Herdsman Coat, Collection 006, 2017

Carla Fernández, design label

Poncho Poema, 2018
No Image Available

Dosa, design label

Travel Coat Worn by Lorraine Wild, 2006

G-Star RAW, design label

RAW for the Oceans Jacket, 2017

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Repair and Design Futures

October 5, 2018 - June 30, 2019
View Checklist PDF

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use