— 744 753 Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam Project structure Thinking Keeping is structured in 5 phases: Phase 1 Collection of packaging and related objects Phase 2 Collecting submissions of preloved objects Phase 3 Concept development Phase 4 Making and experimenting Phase 5 Exhibition inviting participation and discussion. Data collection. The project is in progress, and phases 4 and 5 will be completed before the deadline for camera ready submissions on 1st May 2016. Cultural context and related research Our investigation is especially pertinent given the proliferation of unboxing videos on social media over the last decade. Unboxing videos record the act of taking a new product out of its packaging for the first time, to show the material reality of its features and functions, undistorted by the product’s marketing. The videos make a ceremony out of breaking into a sealed package, and invite an online audience to enjoy the material sensuality of the ‘reveal’. The videos emphasise the anticipation and newness of the product, a little like opening a Christmas gift. By focusing on re-packaging used goods, we relate our research to other projects exploring methods of encouraging consumers to embrace acquiring pre-used products. Post notably this includes the work carried out by Traid (Traid 2016), a charity actively working to challenge perceptions of second hand clothing, and ToTem (Speed and MacDonald, 2013), an academic project which included work with Oxfam to explore methods for transferring the narrative and meaning of a pre-owned product from one user to the next. A third example, from the commercial sector, is Poundland’s “Replay” scheme, which refreshes, re-packages and re-sells pre-owned music discs (see Figure 1). Abstract Thinking Keeping is a creative, practice-based enquiry into the irreversible act of ‘breaking in’ to a sealed package. Breaking open a product’s packaging structures the user’s first experiences of owning the product, and reinforces perceptions of the product’s newness, perfection and desirability. It is a pivotal stage in the emotional lifetime of a product. Through creative methods we are subverting the experience of ‘breaking the seal’, by applying it to products that have already been owned and used. Our enquiry raises questions about the potential of packaging to overcome barriers to reuse, to help construct meaningful lasting relationships with products, and to challenge the desire for newness. We intend to expose contradictions in how consumers value, keep and destroy packaging. The research brings a new angle to research relating design to practices of keeping things and sustainable consumption (e.g. Chapman 2005, Fisher and Shipton 2010, Schifferstein et al 2008). Design can play a key role in influencing consumers’ relationships to their possessions, and designers are in a position to propose powerful ways of rethinking the relationship through creative, practice-based approaches. Our explorations are structured around sketching, prototyping, and data collection via exhibition. Working without the constraints of a commercial brief means that we can develop concepts that subvert expectations, and whose ambiguity prompts reflection and speculation. Thinking Keeping is a collaboration between a product designer, a packaging designer, and a jewellery designer. Keywords Packaging design, Value, Emotion, Practice-based research, Reuse Thinking Keeping: A practice- led research project which focuses on the act of opening or breaking in to product packaging - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Julia Keyte1 j.keyte@bathspa.ac.uk Richard Evans2 r.evans@shu.ac.uk Peter MacQueen1 p.macqueen@shu.ac.uk 1Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom 2Bath Spa University, United Kingdom