Throughout my time at Stanford's d.school, I've become fascinated by the way materials impact our experiences. During the summer of 2024, I designed and created the d.school's first materials library as a way for students to interact with different materials and build material literacy. My hope is that this small, portable library can act as a first prototype for what a larger and more comprehensive library could offer other design students.
My main goal with the materials library was to spark curiosity about different materials. While traditional prototyping materials are ubiquitous in the d.school, innovative materials (like the algae string shown on the left) and traditional materials are harder to find. I created the curiosity cards (as shown here) as a way to begin exploring the materials. Each drawer also has a QR code that goes to a data sheet for that material. The full inventory of material data sheets can be found here.
The materials library is now being used by d.school classes to develop material literacy. In the photo to the left, incoming graduate students in the Graduate Design Program each chose a different material as the catalyst for a project.
One of my favorite parts of the making the materials library was making all of the materials. I revisited old hobbies like knitting and embroidery while also exploring new materials like kombucha leather and other biomaterials. Images of the process are shown below.
