From matter to form : reintroducing the material dialogue from craft into a contemporary design process

The Ph.D. project "From matter to form - reintroducing the material dialogue from craft into a contemporary design process" questions the suitability of the present predominantly immaterial and conceptual design process for sustainability. It argues that, designers must not just know of materials, but know how to work with them in order to design for material circularity and sustainability. Consequently, the research project seeks to test and develop a design process that reinstates the material dialogue from craft into a contemporary context. This not only leeds to a definition for an alternative type of design process, but also to "instrumental" theory on the implications and challenges involved, if this were to be introduced in design education.