International conference on materials

On 25 and 26 November the Eksig Conference zooms in on materials under the headline 'Tangible Means – Experiential Knowledge through Materials'.

Eksig is a biannual event and it is the first time that it is hosted outside the United Kingdom. Therefore Kolding is very honoured to have been selected.

The conference is a so-called 'special interest group' under Design Research Society - one of the most esteemed design research networks.

Three highly esteemed keynote speakers will talk at the conference:

Carole Collet, Professor of Design for Sustainable Futures and Director of the Design & Living System Lab, Central Saint Martins, University of Arts, England, is one of the pioneers within Textile Futures. Carole Collet’s research focuses on bio-design, bio-production and high-tech sustainability, and she has dedicated her career to developing a new vision for design. In her keynote she will map the current landscape of bio-design and explore the emergence of new bio-materials and their consequences.

Lene Tanggard, Professor of Psychology at Aalborg University, has published several books in the field between creativity and learning, including the famous Showering with Picasso – how to spark your creativity and imagination with co-writer Christian Stadil. Lene Tanggard will talk about creativity from a socio-material and analytical viewpoint; that creativity is far more social than we are used to believing.

Elvin Karana, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, has developed a "Meaning Driven Materials Selection" tool to support designers in their materials selection activities. Elvin Karana’s will introduce a method for facilitating the process of designing for material experiences when a specific material is the starting point of the design process.

The Eksig Conference takes place on 25 and 26 November 2015.