The emerging role of design in the circular materials field

Nowadays, a common goal engages many disciplines in researching and implementing a circular and sustainable economic model, and design is one of them. Designers are involved in our global climate crisis governing and influencing production and consumption processes and materials. The latter, materials, are a fundamental part of design processes, and intervening in and through them, means solving many sustainability problems by moving toward possible circular production. For these reasons, design research has long transcended its traditional boundaries. We are witnessing a phenomenon in which design plays an unprecedented role: from “design with materials”, we have moved to “design for materials” and now “of materials”. Design becomes the interface between us and the material world through multidisciplinary tools, the mediator between problems and solutions, activating and directing interdisciplinary teams engaged in processes shared by their research. Evidence of this phenomenon is the growing number of public and private investments, actions in academies and research institutes, and realities in the industry involving designers and design-driven activities such as creative enterprises, incubators, and start-ups. This paper aims to highlight this phenomenon with examples where design is a significant player in materials development strategies. After an initial framing of the circular economy, the report analyzes the repositioning of materials design through a phenomenological analysis. This analysis includes the evolution of design approaches to materials through their creative practices. Moreover, we analyzed how design education is changing to respond to environmental issues. The paper creates and defines a taxonomy of material design case studies. It then closes with some reflections and conclusions.