ABSTRACT

Design Materials and Making for Social Change spans the two interconnected worlds of the material and the social, at different scales and in different contexts, and explores the value of the knowledge, skills and methods that emerge when design researchers work directly with materials and hold making central to their practice.

Through the social entanglements of addressing material impacts, the contributors to this edited volume examine homelessness, diaspora, migration, the erosion of craft skills and communities, dignity in work and family life, the impacts of colonialism, climate crisis, education, mental health and the shifting complexities in collaborating with and across diverse disciplines and stakeholders. This book celebrates the role of materials and making in design research by demonstrating the diverse and complex interplay between disciplines and the cultures it enables, when in search of alternative futures.

Design Materials and Making for Social Change will be of interest to scholars in materials design, textile design, product design, fashion design, maker culture, systemic design, social design, design for sustainability and circular design.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|22 pages

From food waste to circular materials for design

Experimenting with matter from unconventional origins

chapter 2|16 pages

Multimorphic textiles

Prototyping sustainability and circular systems

chapter 3|23 pages

Hands-on/hands-off

On proximities to materials and systems in design research

chapter 4|16 pages

Sensory prosthetics

Materials-led and user-centred research for more inclusive prosthetic limbs

chapter 5|17 pages

Decolonising materials

The story of Govindgarh village

chapter 6|22 pages

NTU X Emmanuel House

Developing a responsible design practice with fashion students and service users

chapter 7|14 pages

Sewing Box for the Future

Facilitating participatory fashion experiences to influence change

chapter 8|21 pages

Re-creation and recreation

Playful sustainable fashion textile projects with school children

chapter 10|19 pages

Decolonising design perspectives

Steps towards more inclusive circular economies

chapter 11|16 pages

Making for our time

A journey told through the dress as catalyst for change