Abstract
This paper describes and reflects upon a design-led workshop carried out by design and science researchers in an interdisciplinary material development project. The aim of the workshop was to construct application context for the design of thermoelectric energy harvesting applications that combine textiles, thermoelectric materials, electronics, and additional smart materials. The experience of textiles is typically multi-sensorial as textiles are often close to the body or in the touching proximity to people. However, the development of novel textile materials and applications is often science-led resulting in extensive considerations of technical aspects at the cost of the experiential insights. The workshop was utilised to explore a way to engage technically oriented researchers into the consideration of material sensing and engagement as a resource for the ideation of potential application contexts. The approach was based on grounding the ideation of design concepts on sensory experiences rather than on technical considerations. The workshop was planned in a manner that relied heavily on personal exploration of the textile and other materials that the workshop participants were provided with. This would contribute to the creation of ‘an experiential context’ for the subsequent development in the project.
Keywords
Textiles; materials; explorative workshop, sensory; context framing
DOI
http://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2015.106
Citation
Townsend, R.,and Ylirisku, S.(2015) Context Construction through Material Perceptions: Experiences from an Explorative Workshop, in Bang, A. L., Buur, J., Lønne, I. A., Nimkulrat, N. (eds.), EKSIG 2015: Tangible Means – Experiential Knowledge Through Materials, 25–26 November 2015, Kolding, Denmark. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2015.106
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Context Construction through Material Perceptions: Experiences from an Explorative Workshop
This paper describes and reflects upon a design-led workshop carried out by design and science researchers in an interdisciplinary material development project. The aim of the workshop was to construct application context for the design of thermoelectric energy harvesting applications that combine textiles, thermoelectric materials, electronics, and additional smart materials. The experience of textiles is typically multi-sensorial as textiles are often close to the body or in the touching proximity to people. However, the development of novel textile materials and applications is often science-led resulting in extensive considerations of technical aspects at the cost of the experiential insights. The workshop was utilised to explore a way to engage technically oriented researchers into the consideration of material sensing and engagement as a resource for the ideation of potential application contexts. The approach was based on grounding the ideation of design concepts on sensory experiences rather than on technical considerations. The workshop was planned in a manner that relied heavily on personal exploration of the textile and other materials that the workshop participants were provided with. This would contribute to the creation of ‘an experiential context’ for the subsequent development in the project.