Outside the “Comfort Zone”. Designing the Unknown in a Multidisciplinary Setting

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents a case study where the early stage of multidisciplinary collaboration is investigated. In the studied case designers work together with material scientists, market experts and the manufacturing industry to develop new textile fibres from waste using novel innovations in chemical recycling. The studied project is defined to be design-driven, and it aims at material innovation through multidisciplinary collaboration. This paper focuses on the first round, the initiative stage where different disciplines learn to collaborate and where the “unknown” is designed: the attributes for the future material. The data covers the first 12-month period in the project and meetings, workshops and communications in the project during this time. The participant observation approach is used. The results show that multidisciplinary collaboration needs participants’ readiness to step outside the practices of their discipline and learn collaboration. Further knowledge intermediators are needed for bridging knowledge gaps between different disciplines.