Introduction by the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano

Abstract

In the contemporary panorama of design, materials are gained an important role. We are the witnesses of an incredible acceleration in the evolution of the design practices and processes related to materials developments and applications.

In the present issue, we want to introduce and formalised the concept of “diffuse materiality” for describing these significant changes in the field of materials for design. In fact, all the classes of materials are transforming in something different: plastics become bio, composite materials change into smart, agricultural wastes turn into growing materials and those of industrial production in advanced materials, and the organic material becomes the border of the future design.

For defining the concept of diffuse materiality we focused on the European context, and we collected various contributions from scholars describing their personal approach to materials. In the following introduction, there is a short description of all these articles.