During the crowded Dutch Design Week many people paid a visit at the small exposition of the Readership Strategic Creativity. On the 5th floor of Design Academy Eindhoven, we presented 3 projects of Research Associates and the first publications of the Readership.
Social Fabric - Michelle Baggerman
The world of crafts is rich in meaning and depth because of the very social character of crafts and their firm rooting in culture and society. To give similar meaning to smart textiles we can learn from craftspeople about how they share and evolve their practice. Social Fabric shows how the mostly technology-focussed field of smart textiles can become more human-focussed by making a connection to social practices in crafts. Research Associate Michelle Baggerman created a service model that allows those who will use smart-textiles in the future (that would be pretty much all of us) to co-write the story of what these textiles will do and what they will mean to people and society.
What Remains? - Alessia Cadamuro
In a world of increasingly older populations, the impact of dementia on individuals, families and entire countries is both a personal and societal challenge. Dementia alters relationships and changes the nature of care services. Research Associate Alessia Cadamuro is taking on the societal challenges to develop new approaches to ageing, care and personal agency. What Remains? demonstrates how design can bridge the systemic and the intimate, linking larger scale challenges of service delivery with the personal interactions of close family members. Alessia Cadamuro balances the needs of the care system to gather actionable information with the desire of families to strengthen personal bonds.
Molecules That Matter and Kindred Spirits - Susana Cámara Leret
Molecules That Matter and Kindred Spirits are the outcomes of a sensory design research project with patients and staff from addiction clinic Mistral in The Hague. Research Associate Susana Cámara Leret has addressed the immediate needs of the clinic staff and patients, and also developed a number of speculative designs to explore future solutions for the clinic. Combining the two in a single project has great advantages because it strengthens the strategic effects of the separate design efforts. The intervention in the present of Molecules That Matter can be seen as a first steps towards other possible futures. The firm rooting of the speculative designs of Kindred Spirits in the present makes them all the more relevant.
Publications: The Play is the thing by Jonathan Wray and The Social Fabric by Michelle Baggerman.
The project book The Play’s the Thing by Research Associate Jonathan Wray presents design research in the format of a theatre play, with a plot, characters and props. He worked with KLM and University of Technology Delft to create new approaches to inflight services on long haul flights. The book presents perspectives on the role of people, plot and products in service design. Also participating students and staff from Design Academy Eindhoven give their views on the project. For sale for €10, please email crisp@designacademy.nl mentioning ‘The Play’.
The Social Fabric is a project by Michelle Baggerman and part of the Smart Textiel Services project whithin CRISP. By exploring ways to create meaning, Social Fabric aism to make a contribution to the kwowledge and practice of digital craft.