Giuseppe Salvia

The Role of Design as a Catalyst for Sustainable DIY

Amateurs committed to self-production (i.e. DIY) are reshaping the relationship between production and consumption, leading to a ‘new DIY age’ (Hoftijzer 2009). The spreading of this trend suggests scenarios in which non-professional people are, or will be, able to create artefacts supported by innovative technologies, networks and, perhaps, companies with new business models. Easy access for consumers to the production system could lead to inefficient resource use and increased waste, however, and so the sustainability of this trend has been debated. Nonetheless, recent research by Salvia (2013) envisages this contemporary self-production phenomena as a ‘window of opportunity’ to foster positive environmental and social impact, through activities intended to prolong product lifetimes, e.g. re-using, re-pairing, re-purposing and re-appropriating—collectively named RE-DIY. This chapter addresses the role of design as catalyst for sustainable RE-DIY. Four scenarios portray the possible role of professional designers as educators or facilitators in the relationship with RE-DIY practitioners, at both a global and local scale. On the basis of a review of the current ‘state of the art’, cases of design-led sustainable initiatives promoting RE-DIY are explored to highlight the potential and feasibility of novel relationships between producers and consumers. Finally, barriers to the evolution of RE-DIY towards sustainable patterns are identified and discussed, and triggers for scaling up this practice on a broader societal level are proposed.

Un)conventional engineering tests to predict fabrics sensorial properties

The research investigates the possibility of objectively anticipating the sensorial qualities of fabrics as an opportunity for competitiveness in textiles’ fields. To this end, three meaningful subjective sensorial perceptions for a specific sampling of fabrics have been associated with objective material properties measured through both conventional and alternative tests. The samples have been eventually assessed by three groups of panelists in three different sensorial modalities, involving touch and sight. Data from the physical and mechanical tests were then statistically related to these subjective rankings in order to identify objective properties that best anticipate specific sensorial information. Two are the main results: (a) subjective perceptions are independent from user’s professional background; (b) a specific objective property is a reliable parameter for softness sensorial anticipation. Finally, a set of tools is proposed to exploit the potentiality of the obtained results.