Alginate Materials for Circular Fashion: from Consumptive to Regenerative Systems

With growing attention towards environmental issues and impact of current production systems, research on new materials and processes has broadened significantly, with particular interest for the fashion field, one of the most consumptive industries on Earth. As renewable and circular resource then, algae and its derivatives as sodium alginate, started to be a focus of many design researches and projects. The research, aimed at fabricating and cataloguing a palette of sodium alginate material samples in order to showcase its potential for the textile field, providing a contribution to the growing community of researchers operating in the field of bio-materials. The collection was the result of the combination of both traditional and innovative manufacturing techniques, and explored the material from the technical-productive point of view, as well as from the aesthetic-perceptual one, with the aim of contributing to its diffusion fostering a shift towards regenerative circular production

Hybrid Sensory Surfaces. Biological meets Digital

The re-design of interactive devices in response to needs in terms of environmental sustainability and enrichment of user experience combines two core topics of contemporary design: biological and digital. Through the design project we can twist material and immaterial, physical and virtual, integrating different modalities of interaction, stratifying the information on multiple levels and conferring to surfaces a perceptual plus involving multiple sensory stimulations. In this scenario microbial nanocellulose represent a promising material because of its technical-performative features which make it usable as biological interface and capacitive sensor, but especially because of its aesthetic-sensory features which can be controlled and programmed through the interaction with the fabrication process, affecting the intensity and richness of the interactive experience

Re-thinking the relationship between design and materials as a dynamic socio-technological innovation process: a didactic case history

A relação entre design e ciência está profundamente enraizada e em constante evolução, resultando na nova abordagem do Bio-design, que oferece aos designers a nova possibilidade de interagir com os processos de produção e participar da fase de projeto do projeto. material, estimulando e direcionando a inovação. . Daí a necessidade de repensar a relação entre design e materiais como um processo dinâmico de inovação sociotecnológica, a fim de incentivar a implementação de novos materiais no mercado em um prazo adequado e por meio de aplicações coerentes. Essa abordagem é ilustrada aqui por meio de três experimentos realizados no MaterialdesignLAB que envolvem novas categorias de materiais (orgânicos, vivos, em crescimento) que mostram como o design representa uma ferramenta para mediação e inovação e desempenha um papel fundamental no fornecimento de significado. em um mundo assim. Muitos problemas para resolver, mas até cheios de oportunidades de armadilhas para criar novas ideias disruptivas.The relationship between design and science is deeply-rooted and under constant evolution, resulting today in the new approach of Bio-design, that offers to designers the novel possibility of interacting with production processes and participating in the material design stage, stimulating and directing innovation. Hence emerges the need to rethink the relationship between design and materials as a dynamic socio-technological innovation process, in order to foster the implementation of new materials on the market in an appropriate timeframe and through coherent applications. Such approach is here illustrated through three experiments carried out within the MaterialdesignLAB involving new material categories ‑ organic, living, growing ‑ that show how design represents as a tool for mediation and innovation, and plays a key role in providing meanings in such a world with many issues to be resolved, but even full of opportunities to catch in order to create disruptive new ideasLa relación entre diseño y ciencia está profundamente arraigada y en constante evolución, lo que resulta hoy en el nuevo enfoque de Bio-diseño, que ofrece a los diseñadores la posibilidad novedosa de interactuar con los procesos de producción y participar en la etapa de diseño del material, estimulando y dirigiendo la innovación. . De ahí surge la necesidad de repensar la relación entre el diseño y los materiales como un proceso dinámico de innovación socio-tecnológica, a fin de fomentar la implementación de nuevos materiales en el mercado en un marco de tiempo adecuado y mediante aplicaciones coherentes. Este enfoque se ilustra aquí a través de tres experimentos realizados en MaterialdesignLAB que involucran nuevas categorías de materiales (orgánico, viviente, en crecimiento) que muestran cómo el diseño representa una herramienta para la mediación y la innovación, y desempeña un papel clave para proporcionar significados en un mundo así. Muchos problemas por resolver, pero incluso llenos de oportunidades para atrapar con el fin de crear nuevas ideas disruptivas

Brand Design Strategy for Public Administration. An experimentation on Lazio Region’s Employment Centers in Italy

The paper deals with the theme of public services through the lens of Design and intends to report experiences and preliminary results of the research project aimed at the Employment Centers of the Lazio Region, which develops a Brand Design Strategy for the renewal of the service through an activity structured in distinct operational phases. In fact, the discipline of Design has the role of guiding a conscious structure of the brand in a systemic perspective, which, in addition to the visual identity, includes the service and spatial design, promoting accessibility, inclusiveness and usability. A case of methodological experimentation that aims to establish itself as a case of national best practice

Re-think through and for the senses. Growing design and design with materials

Over last decades the role of materials in design has undergone a significant transformation, starting as given entities upstream of the project became themselves something to design. The inven- tion can therefore arise both from the quality of the idea as from the qualities of the material itself, in a convergence between design and science which gives rise to a dynamic process of socio-technological innovation. The contamination between different disciplines pushes the designer to overcome the current fragmentation of knowledge, bringing the results of scientific research out from libraries and laboratories, and making them accessible through artifacts, places, and services. The develop- ments in the relationship between design and materials determine a condition of overdesign, offering at the same time the possibility to rethink the design approach, shifting from material selection to designing with materials. The paper illustrates through some examples how the material can become input into the creative process of invention, and how its experiential exploration allows the designer to minimize the gap between theory and prac- tice and generate innovation. The design experimentation will require a hybridization between the deductive-logical-analytical methodology of the scientist and the designer’s inductive-expe- riential-synthetic approach, with the aim of embedding in the project both the technical-performative and the aesthetical-per- ceptual dimension. In a world characterized by an increasingly hulking materiality, the design challenge is to rethink material culture by implementing a radical paradigm shift within the design culture, overcoming the linear and retrospective problem-solving approach, and placing design within a circular process of contam- ination between disciplines, through which imagine the possible alternatives to the prevailing paradigms, balancing the role of the individual with the system he is part of

Evolving Matter: the future of materials and design in the biofabrication era

Human Evolution – from Stone Age to Silicon Age – has always been connected to the prevailing material of each era. With biofabrication the matter of the project becomes alive changing our material world, the figure and role of designers – who learn to interact with nature as co-workers – and their relationship with processes and industry. Analysing emergent phenomena and trends we can outline a projection of how a pos- sible future could be if we prove to be able to grasp and amplify them, as well as of what could happen if we keep on ignoring them. The research questions how design places itself in the transdisciplinary field of biofabrication, how far its range expands and which are indeed its limits, with the aim of understanding to what extent biofabrication is transforming designers’ approach, activity, scope and cultural framework. Furthermore, it questions which is the specific contribution of design in fostering the application, appreciation and consequent diffusion of biofabricated materials within a timeframe appropriate to the urgencies of the contemporary world. This means to bypass the long lead times characterising the industrial development of new materials, to make them rapidly and easily available through everyday objects, thus playing an active part in such design driven material revolution. After tracing the theoretical framework, the research proceeded with a hands-on experimentation carried out in two stages: the basic experiments useful to gain an understanding of different materials and processes in the biodesign field, learn how to interact with organic and living matter, and develop a methodology which suits the hybrid dimension between design and biology; the fermentation experiments where the proposed methodology is applied to one specific material with an in-depth experimentation on microbial nanocellulose. The fermented material is explored shifting from the micro to the macro scale: from process to material, from product to system. Design approaches biofabrication acting on multiple scales thanks to its envisioning ability: it can intervene on material properties as vehicle for sensations, emotions and meanings, develop application scenarios able to valorise and communicate such properties, but also new production-consumption systems which take into account the systemic inter- connection each material and product has with environment and society. Biofabrication is giving us the chance to act a radical change of frame and rethink the way we produce and consume, and more generally the way we live and relate to the Earth habitat through our behaviours – strongly entangled with and influenced by materials, resources and processes we use. We have the responsibility, and opportunity, to shift from a parasitic to a mutualistic attitude as a species, move from the linear mechanistic idea of progress and incremental growth – based on consumption and exploitation – to the rhizomatic organicistic idea of evolution – based on use and collaboration –, discarding the twentieth-century anthropocentric mindset and establishing a symbiotic co-existence among all planetary systems

Pharmacy of the Future: from Medication to Patient

We are living an era of great social changes: progress in medicine led to increased life expectancy and ageing population, and the advent of digital fabrication technologies revolutionized the way we use and produce objects, expanding nowadays its range in the field of medications, 3D-printing drugs and cosmetics. This opens new perspectives for the future pharmacy, which in the last years has been witnessing a growing tendency toward self-diagnosis and self-care that reduced pharmacists to mere sellers. Moreover, there is a strong demand for better adherence to treatments and monitoring of chronic diseases, as well as for customization of therapies and devices. The future pharmacy will be grounded on hyper- personalization, getting closer to the laboratory dimension taking back the production stage. Hyper- personalization won’t affect just aspects related to physiological user’s need – with multiple-dosage and controlled-release drugs – satisfying also aesthetic requirements able to turn medical devices into fashion accessories. This scenario has been implemented into the “Craft Pharmacy” concept, within the project ‘Inspiring the Future Pharmacy’ (Scanu 2019). The research – based on Design Thinking and Metadesign methodologies – started from a preliminary activity involving focus groups and surveys, culminating in a workshop with PhD and MS design students. ‘Craft Pharmacy’ places itself between innovation and tradition grafting new technologies on traditional galenic, twisting the figure of ancient apothecary with a new pharmacist-maker, and reevaluating his role since personalization requires expertise. It is organized around three main services – display, consultation, production – with the open laboratory as core of the retail space. Future is a multiplicity of ideas embedded in today’s practices (Kjaersgaard et al. 2016); through design then, acting as interpreter of a dynamic and complex reality (Antonelli 2008), is possible to bring qualitative improvement in the traditional pharmacy system, shifting the overall attention from medication to patient

Evolving matter: Nuovi approcci progettuali nell’era della biofabbricazione

Da sempre l’evoluzione umana – dall’età della pietra a quella del silicio – è associata al materiale predominante in ogni epoca. Con la biofabbricazione la materia del progetto diventa viva, e i designer imparano a interagire con la natura come co-workers. La ricerca si interroga su come il design si inserisce in questa nuova dimensione, fin dove si estende il suo raggio d’azione e quali sono i suoi limiti, e sul contributo che il design può fornire nel favorire apprezzamento e diffusione dei materiali biofabbricati in un arco temporale appropriato, aggirando quindi i lunghi tempi di applicazione che solitamente caratterizzano lo sviluppo industriale dei nuovi materiali. Il design agisce su più scale: può sviluppare scenari d’applicazione che valorizzino le qualità percettive del materiale, ma anche nuovi sistemi di produzione-consumo che diano forma a un mondo consapevole e responsabile in grado di fronteggiare le sfide globali

Il project-based-learning (PBL) method

Negli ultimi decenni, la ricerca sui nuovi materiali ha rivestito sempre più il ruolo di “motore dell’innovazione” - modificando il modo di pensare gli oggetti ancora più che il modo di produrli e ne ha ampliato il ruolo soprattutto nel design, secondo cui il materiale si è trasformato da entità data a monte del progetto, ad elemento da progettare. L’abilità di esprimere le qualità immateriali e sensoriali dei materiali, è infatti divenuto un aspetto fondamentale all’interno del processo progettuale, attraverso il quale poter trasformare l’esperienza dell’utente in una significativa e profonda interazione sensoriale del prodotto anche attraverso il materiale. Da questa riflessione emerge il bisogno di superare l’attuale organizzazione della conoscenza, ancora suddivisa in discipline distinte, e “ri-arrangiarla” in una forma multiversa, che possa tener conto delle qualità tecniche, ma anche di quelle semantiche e percettive dei materiali. Il project-based-learning (PBL) method, adottato dall’autore in numerose esperienze di ricerca e qui raccontato, propone come una metodologia progettuale basata sul rigore della scienza e sulla capacità intuitiva e di sintesi offerta dal design process. L’obiettivo è quello di mettere in atto una transizione dalla semplice selezione dei materiali per il progetto al progetto con i materiali, integrando le caratteristiche tecnico-produttive con la sperimentazione estetica e sensoriale e ribaltando il tradizionale processo progettuale basato sul problem solving. Tale approccio, che coglie la sfida di costruire talvolta la stessa identità del nuovo materiale, è input primario nel processo progettuale. Nei design experiments illustrati in questo capitolo possiamo individuare due principali modalità di procedere nel design process: dal materiale al prodotto - partendo quindi dall’esplorazione percettivo-sensoriale del materiale per individuare un’applicazione che ne valorizzi identità e qualità; dal prodotto al materiale – partendo da un problema o ipotesi progettuale per individuare e selezionare il materiale adatto che la soddisfi efficacemente. In ognuno dei casi il processo seguito non è però di tipo univoco e lineare ma bensì circolare, con una continua rielaborazione delle diverse fasi in base a risultati e/o osservazioni emerse dalle fasi successive, tracciando così un percorso irregolare e diverso per ogni esperimento, con salti in avanti, passi indietro e cambi di direzione, determinato dalle variabili in gioco

Simbiosi materiche. Progettare la material experience attraverso l’interazione tra processi tecnologici ed autopoiesi

La nascita del growing design, e quindi la possibilità di produrre materiali sfruttando i naturali processi di crescita e riproduzione di organismi viventi, ha determinato una svolta radicale nella cultura del progetto, offrendo a designer e progettisti l’opportunità di ripensare gli attuali sistemi di produzione e consumo. Attualmente, questi bio-materiali attraversano una fase di sperimentazione finalizzata alla messa a punto degli aspetti tecnico- produttivi, trascurando quelli estetico percettivi, responsabili dell’apprezzamento da parte degli utenti. È in questo spazio d’azione quindi che il design trova la sua dimensione nel nuovo contesto del laboratorio a cavallo tra design, biologia e scienza dei materiali, attraverso l’autoproduzione ed il tinkering in una continua collaborazione mente-mano. Il progetto, nello specifico, si concentra sulla nanocellulosa batterica, attraverso la produzione di una palette di campioni con variazioni di colore, texture e composizione chimica, intervenendo sia durante la fase di crescita che a posteriori, sperimentando le possibili lavorazioni. Progettare con la materia vivente comporta un certo grado di imprevedibilità – risultato dell’interazione tra il processo intenzionale del designer e l’autopoiesi del sistema vivente – che può però trasformarsi in input creativo, e condurre allo sviluppo si estetiche e linguaggi in grado di valorizzare le specificità della nanocellulosa batterica contribuendo a costruirne l’identità ancora indefinita