MATERIOM

Materiom is one of the first and most comprehensive online resources for DIY material recipes. Purely practical, it provides recipes and some manufacturing suggestions for a variety of material recipes and ingredients. This website is truly open-source, allowing users to create their own profile and upload their recipes to be approved and shared. We like to think of Compound as a curated and perhaps more user-friendly version of Materiom. 

CHEMARTS COOKBOOK

I absolutely recommend getting your hands on The Chemarts Cookbook. The book was developed by the Chemarts study program within Aalto University which set out to take waste from the national timber industry and develop it into innovative new cellulose-based materials and products. The recipes provided include foam, leather-like, and rigid materials and require varying degrees of sophistication in manufacturing techniques. It is a great example of the various routes material-driven design can take you.

MATERIAL-DRIVEN DESIGN

The development of a new approach to design work coined Material-Driven Design is one of the ways DIY material work has been validated and pulled into academic design discourse. The team at the Materials Experience Lab have laid out a new process for understanding and completing DIY material design work, as well as a toolkit for conducting user testing. It is an invaluable resource for those who want to dive into the theory of DIY material design or teach it in an academic space. 

BIOPLASTICS COOKBOOK

The Bioplastics Cookbook by Margaret Dunne for FabTextiles was one of the first “cookbooks” for bioplastics I came across (and maybe the first readily available on Issuu? Don’t quote me on this!). It is a good introduction to some basic recipes but doesn’t include too much information on how to fabricate using the recipes. Nonetheless, it’s a great starting point for beginners.

MaDe BOOK

This book by the MaDe program is a thorough dive into various approaches to material-based design and material tinkering methods. It includes writing on theory surrounding how material design contributes to the circular economy, as well as including example projects from the MaDe program for inspiration. It’s also just a great round-up of thoughtful people in the space. 

BEYOND PLASTIC

Known for its work in the recycled plastics community, Precious Plastic also has a research arm called Beyond Plastic which is investigating bio-based materials. Their work seems to revolve largely around thermo-forming starch-based materials and is particularly helpful for developing the machinery necessary for thermo-forming (without the huge up-front investment).

TEXTURE COOKBOOK

The Texture Cookbook is really, truly a cookbook (as in, no “material” recipes whatsoever). That being said, it focuses largely on hydrocolloids and contains profiles on many of the bio-based binders used in bioplastics. It also has helpful information on how various ingredients affect each other when combined to alter each one’s characteristics.

STORE MAKERS MANUALS

I just love STORE. STORE is a collective with the mission to “drive social change by enabling public access to art and design.” That couldn’t be more true than through their Makers Manual series. Each manual is a collaboration with a different maker and covers everything from how to build a lamp to how to track animals. Sprinkled in the mix are quite a few material-based projects, including how to grow mycelium and make eggshell “ceramics”.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Food for Thought by Danielle Wilde is similar to the Bioplastics Cookbook by Margaret Dunne in that it reads very much like a cookbook. However Food for Thought dives a little deeper into some research around bioplastics, as well as fabrication methods for working with the recipes.

NIKE CIRCULAR DESIGN GUIDE

The Nike Circular Design Guide is a helpful resource for circular product design. It dives deep into material and packaging choices, design for disassembly, and refurbishment opportunities within a product’s lifecycle. Being Nike, they feature many of their own projects as an example, making it especially helpful if you’re a sneaker designer looking for inspiration.

CIRCULAR DESIGN GUIDE

The Circular Design Guide is the definitive guide for circular design (very true to its name). It is a collaboration between the Ellen Macarthur Foundation (the circular economy experts) and IDEO (the design experts). It is a wonderful place to start for an introduction to the theory, design methods, and toolkits for circular design.

MATERIAL CHANGE

Material Change is a fantastic resource and fortnightly newsletter covering all things circular economy: news, jobs, competitions, shopping recommendations, etc. It is the brainchild of Sarah West Young and we like to think a spiritual sibling of Compound. Recently it even launched its own job board for circular economy opportunities.

BIOFABRICATE

While Biofabricate is technically a consultancy, they are at the center of all things biodesign. They organize and host the Biofabricate conference and work with big players in the fashion industry to spotlight biodesign projects. The resources they have made publicly available are also incredibly helpful, including a set of educational videos as well as a report that includes a helpful analysis of terms within biodesign.  

BIOMIMICRY DESIGN TOOLBOX

Biomimicry is a form of biodesign which advocates learning from and mimicking nature’s strategies within design. For example, rather than creating color using petroleum-based paint, we might learn from nature about structural color and try to apply it instead. The toolbox helps understand the theory and methods behind this design approach.

ASK NATURE

Ask Nature is the go-to resource when researching biology-inspired design and engineering strategies. Essentially you pose your question “How does nature…do something” and it will return a list of relevant articles and summaries of solutions found in nature. There are also curated collections from which to derive inspiration and learn from nature.

BIODESIGNED

Biodesigned is the magazine compiled and curated by the minds behind the Biodesign Challenge. It features a range of stories from the world of biology — including those based in hard science as well as those in the speculative design realm.

GROW BY GINGKO

Grow is a magazine by Gingko Bioworks that tells stories of synthetic biology. Each issue is built around a theme and includes stories that are much more poetic and emotional than is often found in the world of synthetic biology. It is also just a visually stunning magazine, often featuring work from bio-artists.

STILL ALIVE

This paper focuses on “livingness” as a material quality to help connect the dots between pure material design and biodesign. Material design is often rooted in craft and tinkering while biodesign often emerges from the laboratory and science. However, when livingness is viewed as a material quality it helps reveal the overlap between these two worlds.