Abstract
This paper explores how divergent thinking generates creativity and innovative ideas, exploring multiple possibilities and connections. Designing a musical instrument is an opportunity for knowledge and experimentation, combining the need for high performance with aesthetic qualities and, the tradition of handmade production with cutting-edge technologies and materials. Methodologically, the study is exploratory based on qualitative research methods. It comprises academy and the local productive sector, which includes luthiers, musicians, and an audiovisual and film studio. The paper highlights other research projects that demonstrate this team's ability to create connections with design, music, culture, and social issues. The creation of a musical instrument is a multidisciplinary endeavour that connects handmade and industrial contexts, generates and transfers innovation to other productive and cultural sectors, moving beyond exclusive either-or paradigms to foster cooperative and beneficial interactions, promoting an urgent reflection between sustainability and society.
Keywords
Divergent Thinking, Design Materials, Sustainability, Society
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.602
Citation
Aparo, E., Soares, L., and Almendra, R. (2026) Divergent Thinking to design a musical instrument, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.602
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Divergent Thinking to design a musical instrument
This paper explores how divergent thinking generates creativity and innovative ideas, exploring multiple possibilities and connections. Designing a musical instrument is an opportunity for knowledge and experimentation, combining the need for high performance with aesthetic qualities and, the tradition of handmade production with cutting-edge technologies and materials. Methodologically, the study is exploratory based on qualitative research methods. It comprises academy and the local productive sector, which includes luthiers, musicians, and an audiovisual and film studio. The paper highlights other research projects that demonstrate this team's ability to create connections with design, music, culture, and social issues. The creation of a musical instrument is a multidisciplinary endeavour that connects handmade and industrial contexts, generates and transfers innovation to other productive and cultural sectors, moving beyond exclusive either-or paradigms to foster cooperative and beneficial interactions, promoting an urgent reflection between sustainability and society.