Miracles and crushed dreams: Material disillusions in the design industry

This chapter discusses the productive and constructive elements of material failure as seen through the lens of industrial design. It describes how material engagements for practitioners are changing; where, how and with whom material knowledge can be shared in industrial design; why material failures arise within industrial design practices; and how this can be productive for innovation, imagination and the production of social value. The chapter argues that the failing of materials, those undeveloped expectations one has for the design and its promise, is itself productive and, at times, even essential for creating something ‘new’. Material engagement as a paradigm of human interaction with the world is itself fluid and dynamic. The experimentation process is very natural and intrinsic to a craft- based practice, which is close to heart of many design studios. Designers commonly work with materials from emotional, functional and sensorial points of view, with an increased use of materials as a starting point for mass- produced objects.