This paper explores the potential of microbial biomineralisation—a biological phenomenon where microorganisms drive mineral formation, generating structures with exceptional mechanical properties—for sustainable design futures. In particular, we discuss how leveraging microbial biomineralisation in designing living artefacts can support regenerative ecologies. Although a few pioneering biodesigners have begun to explore the potentials of microbial biomineralisation for design, a vast design space remains under-explored in the realm of living artefacts. In response, we first characterise a design space by analysing 22 microbial biomineralisation cases from art, design, architecture, materials science, and engineering. We examine the specifics of the organisms and substrates used, the fabrication or growing techniques developed, and the unique design outcomes. Following this, we further analyse these cases through a five-pillar framework of living artefacts for regenerative ecologies, speculating on potential pathways where these cases can be further developed as living artefacts to achieve the specific goals related to these pillars. Our results signal a promising era for designing living artefacts that promote cleaner production practices, foster biodiversity, and cultivate care and sensibilities towards other-than-human entities in our daily lives, by integrating the unique properties of microbial biomineralisation into everyday interactions with living artefacts.

Orthopaedic garments improve the quality of life for individuals with chronic conditions, injuries, or in search of preventative support. This study explores the potential application of fungal textile materials to orthopaedic garments for the hand and wrist areas, focusing on identifying key experiential qualities for seven participants. Iterative exploration in creating fungal materials with differential flexibility and cushioning resulted in three distinct material samples, four textural patterns, and three concepts, each showcasing the varied qualities. These outcomes were assessed through semi-structured qualitative interviews, focusing on qualities of fungal textile and user perceptions of their comfort, relevance, and desirability. Participants valued the materials’ natural qualities and potential for varying combinations to suit breathability and temporal needs in their unique use cases, informing further prototyping. By harnessing the unique qualities of fungal textiles, this research proposes how these materials can meet diverse wellness needs while reducing reliance on synthetic and non-renewable materials.

This paper presents our investigation into methods to create fungal textiles with variable cushioning and flexibility properties, for differing technical and experiential characteristics. Fungal materials have generated rising interest in design communities over the past several years, resulting in applications in packaging, building, insulation, fashion and more due to their circular lifecycle and tunable customization on a myriad of properties and scales. In the fashion industry, these novel materials have been used as leather alternatives with a broad range of applications to the human form. Imitating conventional textile behavior, these applications, however, usually retain the same characteristics throughout the breadth of the material, a departure from the dynamic living organism it was created from. We aim to bridge this gap by endowing a singular fungal textile with multiple properties, serving the dual function of highlighting its organic origins and reducing the material complexity often required to achieve such versatility in a single material. Specifically, we present our design exploration to create localized support and flexibility in fungal textiles. We explored two techniques of creating fungal textiles, investigating diverse fungal species, growth and manufacturing methods, and post-processing techniques. The new techniques and unique properties of these materials suggest promising applications in areas such as assistive wearables, enhancing both user and planetary wellbeing.

Direct interaction with cultural heritage (CH) artefacts is frequently unavailable to visitors, offering an opportunity for HCI designers to explore integrating material aspects into digitally-mediated encounters with CH artefacts. We argue that a thorough understanding of the material experiences of CH artefacts can open a novel design space, enabling engaging and meaningful interactions with digital representations. Capitalising on this potential, we present a user study where we systematically explore the material experiences of historic pop-up and movable books. Our analysis identifies five key material qualities to inspire augmentation: fold-ability, slide-ability, tear-ability, age-ability, and print-ability. Highlighting how these material qualities can inspire novel interactions with their digital representations, we present two extended-reality (XR) prototypes of a CH book. With our work, we present HCI designers with a novel approach on designing CH experiences, firmly rooted in materiality, challenging the prevalent paradigms of 'technology-driven' or 'as-realistic-as-possible' sensory experiences often found in CH-HCI.

The complex age we live in, characterised by the Anthropocene era and Industry 4.0, demands a radical paradigm shift in production, consumption, material choices, and, consequently, the relationship between designers and Nature.

In this scenario, the clothing industry is clearly in the spotlight for being one of the most significant contributors to global environmental disasters and resource depletion. Thus, now more than ever, it is time to promote an imperative change in the fashion system towards circularity and regeneration.

This chapter presents an updated and articulated state of art describing the strong bond between designers and Nature in the fashion field. Specifically, the analysis highlights inspiring and promising examples from design research and practice in relation to Biomimesis, particularly focusing on the integration of plants into the process.

To show the potential of Living and Growing Design in the clothing field, a case study of an experimentation journey undertaken by a fashion design practitioner is illustrated, analysing its use of textiles as substrates for seedlings.

Through the MDD method, the DIY-Materials approach and Tinkering activities, the current research employs seeds, plants and bio-based materials as tangible tools to enable an emotional connection between users and their garments. The study produced theoretical and practical outputs: a material library, a speculative fashion collection, and an open-source manual for DIY experimentation and testing. These outcomes aim to inspire designers to care for their artefacts and foster a renewed connection with Nature.

Over the past decades, emerging materials have gained prominence in design practice, driving innovation and generating added value to products and systems; they play a crucial role in improving physical performance and enhancing product language, facilitating novel dynamic experiences and unique expressive‑sensorial dimensions. […]

Serenity plays a pivotal role in human well-being, as it fosters an enduring sense of peace and calmness. Everyday textile artifacts, with their qualities of softness, malleability, and flexibility, hold the capacity to greatly enhance serenity in user experiences. Drawing from the foundation of materials experience and material-driven design, this paper introduces a design toolkit aimed at harnessing the potential of textiles in creating serene experiences. The toolkit was refined through two exploratory workshops involving design professionals from both academic and industrial backgrounds. By emphasizing the interplay of form, material, and time in textile experiences, this toolkit offers a vocabulary and set of techniques for discussing and designing for serene textile experiences across different material and time scales. We further explore avenues for the toolkit's employment, expansion, and adaptation for use in a wide array of material-driven design projects.

The chapter presents and discusses the theoretical background, original methodology, format, and results of the workshop “Interdisciplinary challenge on Emerging Materials and Technologies (EM&Ts)” with a focus on Interactive Connected and Smart (ICS) Materials for Wearable Technologies. ICS materials are defined as systems combining inactive materials, stimuli-responsive smart materials, and embedded sensing, computing, and actuating technologies. They can sense and communicate data from the body or the environment, and they can perform interactive behaviours. One of the application sectors where these are more exploited is wearable technologies. These materials can be embedded into clothing or worn on the body as electronic textiles (e-textiles), implants, or accessories. The challenge was used as a way to transfer new knowledge on innovative materials to design and engineering students and to establish a dialogue between students, researchers with extensive materials-focused expertise, and companies interested in EM&Ts. The workshop presented in this paper was held at Politecnico di Milano, Design School, from 12 to 16 July 2021. The methodology of the workshop follows a framework built by collecting, analysing, and systemically formalising innovative tools, methods, and approaches for designing and learning how to design with advanced materials. It identifies three phases: (1) Understanding the EM&Ts—where the fundamental knowledge is provided; (2) Exploring and Shaping the EM&Ts—where hands-on experimentation and tinkering is a way to stimulate ideas and understand the opportunities and limits of the materials and processes; (3) Applying the EM&Ts—the synthesis of the process when the material is embedded and embodied into a project. This framework defined the original structure and agenda of the whole workshop. Therefore, the workshop was based on a combination of hands-on experimentation, design activities, and lectures by the teaching staff of the four universities and by partnering companies (design pills). Students applied this unique design methodology developed within the project to design with four Emerging Materials and Technologies (EM&Ts). The method and tools developed by the staff supported students in understanding, exploring, and shaping, and applying EM&Ts, and finding design opportunities from their integration. Indeed, the main EM&Ts explored in the workshop are Interactive Connected and Smart Materials (ICS Materials), but all the other EM&Ts researched in the project were integrated: Nanomaterials, Experimental Wood-based Materials, and Advanced Growing Materials. In this interdisciplinary challenge, a real-life design brief was given to students with the cooperation of two partner companies: Comftech and SCILIF. The joint challenge with the title “Designing with ICS Materials: a dialogue between e-textiles and active lighting technologies” was about using the two patented technologies produced by the companies—a textile sensor detecting biosignals, and SunFibre active lighting system—as a platform to develop interactive, connected, and smart tangible interfaces for new application sectors focused on emotions and stress management, from well-being to entertainment, to safety. Twenty-three students worked together in six multi-disciplinary teams to find solutions for this challenge and to produce product concepts, prototypes, and material samples. The results are described and discussed in the chapter and include interactive garments for healthcare, improving safety at work, sharing emotions in leisure activities, and for the well-being of elderly people and kids. The discussion of the results and the whole methodology is informed by the feedback provided by students through a questionnaire and by teaching staff observation.

Biofabricated and grown materials are an emergent trend in the design discipline. The push towards the re-search of innovative and sustainable material solutions has recently increased since there is a real necessity to find solutions compatible with sustainable production paradigms. In the presented work, bacterial cellulose (BC) from kombucha tea fermentation has been chosen for investigation. The biofabrication of this peculiar material enables the realisation of several textural and aesthetical features, giving the designer important freedom. However, to properly look for possible applications in products design, some precise characterisations must be observed and discussed. In this contribution, the authors analysed the sensorial and aesthetical dimensions of six different BC samples to highlight and assess the peculiar element of this promising material.

Lately, designers have become deeply interested in the materials generation process. With an approach of transforming unconventional elements into possible materials, they discover many possibilities with new characteristics ready to explore. This article discusses a study proposing concepts of materials generation, focusing on self-production in a pandemic context of domestic isolation and resource limitations. It follows the Do-It-Yourself Materials approach to create homemade samples (organic waste-based) and the experience-based method called Material Driven Design (to search for new insights in the material samples) as a framework. The research presents some tools to measure and understand possible new materials. It evaluates the materials experience generated in users when using unconventional sources for their creation and shares some information to get a more straightforward path when choosing to work with an experimental approach to developing alternative materials.

The critical environmental conditions of the planet compel humankind to rapidly devise solutions able to minimize the impact of human actions on Earth. Environmental issues are urgent, so researchers and practitioners in the design field are committed to formalising new visions and pathways, willing to meet the SDGs of the 2030 agenda. While formulating less affecting processes of making/manufacturing, a conscious practice of design recognises materials and their 38 management as a critical point for sustainable production. The material, formerly considered a step of the design process, now becomes the the focus of the project; unfortunately, there is a lack of dedicated studies and initiatives to implement material awareness in design education. To envision an effective ecological transition, material design turns into an inescapable step when designing for sustainability. It’s fundamental for design schools to invest in material education by establishing dedicated courses that boost this realm of knowledge, material understanding, and to improve the making skills of new generations of designers. This chapter focuses on the results of the DIY-Material approach used in the last few years at the Design School of Politecnico di Milano. The developed approach allows to teach students transversally how to design materials starting from a source, going through ingredients, compositions, recipes, and processes, creating material demonstrators, and defining the identity of the new material and its narratives. Here, a series of bio-based, bio fabricated material examples will be illustrated to describe the development of material pathways pointing towards an ecological transition through a DIY-Materials approach.