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Asbjörn Sörensen, Charlotte; Rosén, Therese

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Recent academic literature on material practices within design has revealed a lack of strategies that can support designers during the different stages of developing bio-based materials when using a DIY approach. Earlier studies have shown that the most successful material designers strategically gathered knowledge both through literature, systematic material experiments and by using their network to find external expertise. The choice of strategy was related to prior experience and the material designers level of education. This paper suggests a strategy based on a comparative case study combined with a contextual literature review. The bio-based materials in this study are produced by using local resources; they promote sustainability, are placed in a circular context and underlines the importance of the connection between a context, a community and the designer. Material-driven design practices, applying DIY approaches to material development processes in combination with a theoretical framework from circular design and sustainable development can provide entry points to address parts of the complexity and envision new alternative solutions. Conclusions aim to encourage designers, researchers and tutors to respond to emerging needs by re-thinking material practices in design.

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DIY-materials, material-driven design practices, sustainability, design education, value creation