Material matters : process of intuitive design

Abstract

Steady. Tighten. Splice. Bend. Fold. Weave. Elongate. Stiffen. Break: This is the vocabulary of an undertaking of craft, designing-while-making, improvising, learning-while-doing. This thesis is an exploration of design as craft. Woven plywood models are created in improvisational moves, benefitting from the embodied knowing that comes with extended material engagement. The making of these pieces is an experimental and playful process, where methods are tested and discovered by hand. The body is the driver in this way of making, and decisions are made based on the possibilities and limitations of the material. The plywood pieces are held together with friction alone. With no boundary conditions and no permanent fixatives, they are endlessly malleable, repeatedly remade into new forms, each time producing new lessons for the maker. Drawings are created after making, in order to map these undevelopable forms. The series of drawings are not representative of form, but are instead a method to unravel the story of making. The resultant family of structures advocate for designers to engage with material in order to make discoveries of forms and methods that would not have arisen using the hylomorphic model of design. Working by hand allows the material to assert its own logic, principles, and exciting possibilities.