Attribution of Meanings to Eco-materials Through the Expressive-Sensory Experience
In recent years we are witnessing the spread of plastic materials with ecological characteristics derived from food waste that, if on the one hand, they solve some problems related to the environmental impact, on the other hand are often considered poor,
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Abstract In recent years we are witnessing the spread of plastic materials with ecological characteristics derived from food waste that, if on the one hand, they solve some problems related to the environmental impact, on the other hand are often considered poor, unreliable and unsightly, and so little regarded. The possibility of giving them a specific “personality” and thus to define and enhance the aesthetic character may contribute to their widespread use. The paper presents the results of a research experience as part of a Design Course held in the Department of Architecture of Pescara. The research focuses mainly on one aspect: to explore how eco-friendly materials are used for the creation of meanings and how they get different meanings in different user products. The research objective was to verify whether it is possible to attribute, through the expressive-sensory experience, specific “meanings” to ecological materials, thus starting the definition of their own specific “personalities”. Keywords Eco-materials
Expressive-Sensory features Personality of materials
1 Introduction The European Bioplastics Association has defined a specific class of polymers, with approved biodegradability according to EN 13432, by including both polymers derived from renewable sources, such as corn, sugar cane, potato starch or castor oil, both those of fossil origin. These are the first eco-friendly solutions appeared on the market. For example by extracting the starch from corn, it is possible to use it directly in order to obtain a thermoplastic polymer, or it is possible to ferment it to obtain lactic acid and, subsequently, polylactic acid (PLA). In particular, the latter found its first applications in disposable products, and it is the biopolymer that is still most commonly used for most common uses. Yet, S. Camplone (&) University of Chieti-Pescara, Viale Pindaro, 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 W. Chung and C.S. Shin (eds.), Advances in Affective and Pleasurable Design, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 483, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41661-8_46
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despite the numerous application possibilities and respectable performance, acceptability and therefore the affirmation of these new materials on the plastics market are still not entirely satisfactory. Still today, in fact, too often there is a widespread feeling that “green plastics” are low-performance materials, not very durable and resistant, unreliable and unsightly. It is important to understand the reasons why, in order to attribute a dignity and a central role to biopolymers in the world, in itself complex, of over one hundred thousand plastic materials available today.
2 Objective This contribution presents the results of an experiment carried out as part of a Design Course held in the Department of Architecture of Pescara, whose intent was to define a methodology to analyze the issues of “identity” of biopolymers, also called “eco-materials”, and in particula
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