Design in the Metamorphosis of Matter

Abstract

The contribution refers to the research topic of materials experience by framing a methodology related to the way materials are catalogued and interpreted in design. The study specifically concerns the design for the sustainable management of production residues in the tanning supply chain and is aimed at their semantic valorisation as material resources. Starting from the interpretation of by-products as the material legacy of a know-how, the valorisation takes place through the application of a specific method based on the definition of expressive-sensorial parameters. The project prefigures the prototype of a cataloguing system in the shape of a multi-level map. As a matrix of design possibilities belonging to a territorial culture, the tool intercepts values such as identity and recognisability of a know-how processes, whose by-products become evidence of it and represent the “material” of the project that acquires physical form in the tangible surface of the artefacts.