##Scaffolding a context-aware global material commons: what's in your local archive?
##Scaffolding a context-aware global material commons: what's in *your* local archive?
**The goal of this project was to explore and develop simple methods for open material archiving....**
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It is difficult to separate the material from the form however. Most of the "materials" in this library are already *applied*. They have already taken shape as a functional object, which could make it challenging to disentangle the form and possible functions/shapes/forms. Also, this library contains a lot of materials that would be hard to impossible to recreate without specialist tools and knowledge.
###3. Open-access publications: Material Activism
###3. Open-access publications and renewable resources-only: Material Activism
Great! Sharing the recipes, ONLY renewable stuff. Super demystifying. Really focused on materials, form is very rudimentary, keeps open to interpretation and further development.
We should also take note of the work other critical designers have done before in the realm of materials research & development. Many designers have develped their own versions of materials, and great applications for them in their design practice. And there are dozens of beautiful big books to showcase them. Although they may create *awareness* and inspiration when it comes to these approaches to design and materials, most often, the exact recipe or process is not disclosed. Even more problematic is that it is very common for a designer to use a crafts or heritage technique and presents it as though it has been their discovery, paying no credit to the cultural history such practices emerged from. Many of the techniques hailed as sustainable material innovatinos are in fact rediscovered old techniques.
But static. How do we make it ongoing?
Also not very sophisticated in how to exert any control, tooling, drying time etc. Very rough start.
**Open-source material activism**
Miriam Ribul's framing of DIY bioplastics as material activism (2013) that should be open-source is pivotal here. With this open access publication Ribul shares 4 basic recipes for bioplastics that can be created at home with ingredients bought at a super market. She argues for collaborative approaches to radical imaginaries when it comes to the issue of our collective plastic addiction. The focus on *only renewable* ingredient is unique to the approaches listed so far (which may come as a surprise). Such a strict approach, with *only* DIY recipes, and simple, renewable ingredients (which we also see in Materiom, below) is essential when it comes to rethinking materials. We cannot yield to the temptations of high-tech materials alone, but must continue to push for *sustainable* approaches to high-tech only.
The DIY recipe book is a popular format which we also see in Clara Davis - [*The Secrets of Bioplastic*](https://issuu.com/nat_arc/docs/the_secrets_of_bioplastic_)(2017), Margaret Dunne's [*The Bioplastics Cookbook: A Catalogue of Bioplastics Recipes*](https://issuu.com/nat_arc/docs/bioplastic_cook_book_3)(2018). It demystifies the processes of material design, keeping the form very rudimentary, allows it to stay open to interpretation and further development. Although it opens up a wealth of information with this format, they remain static. How can we make this kind of development ongoing? Another downside to these publications is that they are unlikely to go very in depth in terms of tooling options, drying time, etcetera because there's an incentive to keep recipes short and fit them on a page or a spread. On the other hand that is exactly what makes them accessible.
Lastly, there seems to be a danger with such recipe books because they often take a narrow focus for the sake of clarity and coherence. As a historical parrallel: the "natural textile dyeing" books from the 1970s would celebrate and appreciate nature's splendor, while including heavy metals and toxic compounds as mordants in their recipes. In a similar way, we see that some recipe books eagerly consider renewable alternative to petrol-based plastics, but don't find it worth mentioning that animal-based products such as gelatine might be an issue as well.
###4. Collaborative databases: Materiom
Great! Ongoing, new stuff, add your own.
[Materiom](https://materiom.org/) is a great initiative that takes the open-source, DIY, renewable-only approach, and makes efforts to collect and present recipes in a beautifully designed environment that is accessible online. Users can add their own recipes so the archive can continue to grow. Beautiful photography makes these materials very appealing and desirable as a design material as well.
In the same way that family recipes are contested, and cooks claim to have the "ultimate" recipe to a ragu bolognese, material recipes will be contested. We've seen this in the myriad ways people craft and form materials in the context of this Fabricademy course. Great value could be added if collaborative databases also facilitated debate, contestation and forking of certain recipes. With peer reviews and rating we might be able start to see patterns as to which technique work best for whom. Where are they in the world? What are their environmental conditions and which type of which ingredient are they using?
But no peer reviewing, no relationships, no context, no history
A platform like Materiom might also benefit from acknowledging more explicitly where these crafts practices are coming from, and taking a more critical stance as to when something is *more sustainable*. As no material is perfect or without issues, we need more concrete handles for assessing the ethics of using certain materials in particular context or applications. Expanding the amount and type of entry fields required when submitting a new recipe could potentially help the community of "material nerds" deepen their understanding of what they are working with, so material activism extends beyond the ecological, into the social, cultural, political, and technical.
## STARTING POINT: A MANIFESTO
## Starting point: a Materials Manifesto
*This is a manifesto for the obsessively curious, the critical makers, the material nerds. By Loes Bogers, 2 April 2020*
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#BLURBS BLURBS BLURBS (dont read this)
##Overview
1. (WHAT) The project: title and phrase that describes it (vision/mission)
2. (WHAT) A poster (like a pager, advertisement or design overview)
3. (WHY) Inspiration and State of the art: timeline of projects/research
that is relevant to your state of art
4. (WHY/WHO) Numbers/statistics (optional - if you have conducted an inquiry)
5. (WHY/WHO) References: Case studies and existing similar projects (4 max)
6. (for WHO) Case study - user experience, make an assumption of a
person (character) that uses it (if applicable)
7. (HOW) How does your prototype/project manifest your idea, what it
tackles, improves or changes from the state of the art
8. (HOW) Technical research: Outline of how it materializes the goal/focus of the project
9. (HOW/DOCUMENTATION) User manual if it is a machine or kit
10. Message to the world: what is the project's message? in one line define the future possibilities of the project.
##1. AN ARCHIVE OF DIY, OPEN-SOURCE MATERIALS
A curated selection from best practices found in research labs, material archives and design studios from all over the world. The information itself was already widely known, this project is an effort to ask new questions, and think up new structures for organising and building on this knowledge in open, collaborative ways, not over-simplifying nor mystifying the information and skills needed.
What is offered here:
- A starter pack with a **selection of 25 DIY recipes for biobased alternatives to common design materials** like inks, dyes, (thermoformed and thermoset) plastics, composites, leathers and crystals.
-**An invitation to develop your own selection of 25 core recipes**, to suit *your* local context and ingredients locally abundant around you. The materials are selected based on the local availability of their ingredients in the Netherlands (e.g. potato starch produced locally, instead of corn starch, dye of onion skins instead of hibiscus tea).
-**Description of the cultural origins** of each material and the techniques involved (which may be questioned and expanded)
-**Ethical and ecological considerations** for each material (which can be questioned and expanded)
-**A set of tools for local archiving** to enable sensory exploration of the open-source materials available and aid material-driven design pedagogy.
-**A framework for collaborative online archiving** following these principles, that can be further developed in the future
##Why?
**Biofabricating can be further demystified**
Some archives tend to mystify the process of biofabricating (using expert terminology, not explaining in detail how to actually do something). Getting very scientific or very technical about it without explaining hands-on knowledge in laymen's terms.
**Biofabrication can be further clarifying (but not simplified!)**
alternatively, archives and resources tend to oversimplify the process (a three step summary of a process where many more intricated details matter. Knowing how to cook a bioplastic is easy, knowing how to dry it well is much less documented.
**Material Archives can and should take an open-source DIY approach (Do-It-Yourself)**
Many archives will show you what's out there (to buy), but don't give the concrete info you need to biofabricate yourself even though you can often try out these things in your kitchen and most recipes are in the commons and can be used by anyone.
**Do-It-Together**
When recipes and how-to's are shared (e.g. Material Archive, Materiability etc.) there is often no way to disagree on recipes. What is there is there and cannot be improved or responded to by others.
**Context-aware approach (exit the candy shop)**
A lot of
**Tactile / sound demo often lacking but very necessary**
The tactile dimension that is so important part of a physical archive is lacking in most online ones to help people understand the kind of material they can make with a given recipe
Other arguments:
- sustainability
- nuance: no perfect material but let's collect information
- not mystifying
- but also not simplifying
- technique is half the work
- thorough documentation and referencing highlighted
