Abstract
In the context of the circular economy, materials in scientific development present opportunities for material design processes that begin at a raw state, before being introduced into established processes and applications. The common separation of the scientific development of materials from design intervention results in a lack of methodological approaches enabling designers to inform new processes that respond to new material properties. This paper presents the results of a PhD investigation that led to the development and application of a Material-Driven Textile Design (MDTD) methodology for design research based in the materials science laboratory. It also presents the development of the fabrication of a textile composite with regenerated cellulose obtained from waste textiles, resulting from the MDTD methodology informing novel textile processes. The methods and practice which make up this methodology include distinct phases of exploration, translation and activation, and were developed via three design-led research residencies in materials science laboratories in Europe. The MDTD methodology proposes an approach to design research in a scientific setting that is decoupled from a specific product or application in order to lift disciplinary boundaries for the development of circular material-driven fabrication and finishing processes at the intersection of materials science and design.
Highlights
Published: 26 January 2021A strong focus on the exploration of materials in design and materials science is placed on finding viable alternatives to materials in existing processes and reducing their environmental impacts [1,2,3]
The Material-Driven Textile Design (MDTD) methodology is underpinned by the theoretical context of three methodological approaches, which evolved from the following principles for a materials design practice situated in the materials science laboratory: action research and participatory design research for the collaboration with materials scientists to access, observe, and participate in scientific processes; material-driven design for the focus of the methodology on exploring new material design processes, which are decoupled from a specific product or application; and tacit knowledge in a strong design disciplinary background to inform the transdisciplinary, practice-based work with materials in the tools and techniques introduced
The MDTD methodology resulted in new textile processes inscribed within the circular economy, including the process for textile composite fabrication presented in this paper
Summary
A strong focus on the exploration of materials in design and materials science is placed on finding viable alternatives to materials in existing processes and reducing their environmental impacts [1,2,3]. The “Krebs Cycle of Creativity”, developed by Oxman, places design and science opposite each other in a coordinate plate and connects them through art or engineering [11] The interactions between these four domains in this cycle evidence exchanges as “currency” and not a methodological approach as such. Examples of material design methodologies in interdisciplinary collaborations are limited These interdisciplinary projects take place individually in separate domains of the laboratory or design studio [1,23,24,25], or are facilitated in neutral settings, such as workshops in large-scale projects [26,27,28,29]. The context of circularity in which regenerated cellulose materials obtained from waste textiles are chemically recycled is a recent disciplinary domain which would promote such investigation
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