Caring Consumption : Caring for home textiles by interacting towards sustainable behaviours through a co-creation workshop

Abstract: This research is investigating ways of promoting social change towards more sustainable practices around the consumption of decorative home textiles. Knowledge is built and a prototype developed by using transdisciplinary design theory and participatory design methods.  Motivators for this work are the sustainability goals defined by the United Nations, specifically reducing waste through prevention and building awareness for sustainable lifestyles (UN Sustainability Initiative, 2020); and a combined interest of becoming more accessible to more people and interacting with them there where they are from the point of view of product or service design, as well as working towards sustainability goals of IKEA (Ingka Group, 2020).  The context of home textiles has been chosen because textile waste is a growing problem and with the main emphasis being on issues relating to clothing items and fast fashion, problems with home textiles can be easily overlooked. However, with giant fast fashion companies like H&M and Zara entering the home decor market, there is a reason to focus on preventing the same kind of issues rising with home fashion textiles as have with fast fashion clothes.  The aim is to understand the behaviours and meanings surrounding home fashion textiles and to reduce the amount of textile waste going to landfills through prevention and mindful consumption. The purpose is to develop a vehicle of interaction between IKEA and consumers that emphasizes inclusion and the merits of co-creating to solve a problem in a sustainable way and benefits IKEA in their pursuits of cultivating a stronger relationship with the consumers while working towards their circularity goals.  The prototype proposed as a result is an evidence-based tool for communication which enables IKEA to access more people while offering both parties a chance to learn from each other while developing sustainable initiatives and mindsets.