Revived Beauty: Research into Aesthetic Appreciation of Materials to Valorise Materials from Waste

Marita Sauerwein ,, Elvin Karana and Valentina Rognoli
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Marita Sauerwein ,: Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands
Elvin Karana: Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands
Valentina Rognoli: Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: The use of materials derived from waste is one of the prominent ways to contribute to sustainable product design. However, there is a stark gap in literature concerning how people appraise such materials. In this paper, we present our initial attempts to understand the aesthetic appreciation of materials, in particular those derived from discarded raw materials, i.e., revived materials . Two studies were conducted for which we took the aesthetic principle unity-in-variety as the departure point. In the first study, we explored material appraisals by testing whether different visual and tactile qualities interrelate with each other in a similar or contradictory way. Based on these findings, two revived materials were modified and our main assumptions were further explored in Study 2. We outline our findings and show that the aesthetic appreciation of a material can be influenced by the (in)congruity between visual and tactile qualities of the material.

Keywords: materials experience; sustainability; aesthetic pleasure; sensorial experience; unity-in-variety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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