Reintroducing Materials for Sustainable Design
Reintroducing Materials for Sustainable Design provides instrumental theory and practical guidance to bring materials back into a central role in the design process and education.
To create designs that are sustainable and respond to current environmental, economic and cultural concerns, practitioners and educators require a clear framework for materials use in design and product manufacturing. While much has been written about sustainable design over the last two decades, outlining systems of sustainability and product criteria, to design for material circularity requires a detailed understanding of the physical matter that constitutes products. Designers must not just know of materials but know how to manipulate them and work with them creatively. This book responds to the gap by offering a way to acquire the material knowledge necessary to design physical objects for sustainability. It reinforces the key role and responsibility of designers and encourages designers to take back control over the ideation and manufacturing process. Finally, it discusses the educational practice involved and the potential implications for design education following implementation, addressing didactics, facilities and expertise.
This guide is a must-read for designers, educators and researchers engaged in sustainable product design and materials.
Mette Bak-Andersen
A designer and researcher dedicated to changing the way we design things. She was educated as a designer in Barcelona in 2005 and has a Ph.D. in sustainable design and materials from the Royal Danish Academy of Architecture and Design. For more than 13 years she has been working with sustainability and the transition to a circular economy in her design practice, in design education, and in her research, both in Denmark and internationally. In 2013 she founded the Material Design Lab at Copenhagen School of Design & Technology, which she directed until 2018.
Credits
Designer: Mette Bak-Andersen
Publisher: Routledge
Country: Denmark
Photographs: ©Mette Bak-Andersen / ©Routledge
