A long-lasting product creates more than utility—it creates history. Over decades, it accumulates stories, repairs, and adaptations. This history becomes a new kind of value.
Digital Passports for Physical Things
A digital passport records a product’s origin, repairs, ownership transfers, and major events. It is a living biography for an object.
For users, this record provides:
- Authenticity and provenance
- Maintenance history
- Trust in condition and safety
For manufacturers, it provides:
- Insight into real-world use
- Data to improve future designs
- Evidence for durability claims
Products as Learning Platforms
When a device lasts decades, its data becomes a long-term research asset. It reveals how materials age, how designs fail, and how users adapt. This turns each product into a sensor for real-world conditions.
This changes business models. Instead of selling new units, companies profit from the insights generated by durable products. The longer a product lasts, the more valuable it becomes.
Emotional and Cultural Value
A product with a deep record gains emotional weight. It becomes a legacy object. A repaired tool tells a story. A device with a long history feels irreplaceable.
This creates a new kind of collector culture: not pristine objects, but well-lived ones with rich histories. Use becomes a source of value rather than a threat to it.
Privacy and Control
For digital passports to work, privacy must be respected. Users should control what is recorded and shared. The system must allow public history without personal exposure.
A good passport model balances transparency with consent. It honors the object’s story without violating the owner’s privacy.
The Compounding Effect
A digital passport turns a product into an appreciating asset—not just financially but culturally. The longer it lives, the more insight it holds, and the more meaningful it becomes. That is the essence of cumulative design: time adds value rather than eroding it.