Embracing Material Surface Imperfections in Product Design
Owain Pedgley
Department of Industrial Design, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Owain Pedgley is Full Professor of Industrial Design at Middle East Technical University, Turkey. His academic expertise centers on design for product interaction and experience, notably within the emerging domain of materials experience. Between 2014-2017 he was a founding member of the Industrial Design program in the School of Engineering, University of Liverpool, UK. He is a strong advocate and early practitioner of academic research conducted through design. Prior to his academic career, Owain worked as a product designer in the sports equipment and musical instrument sectors and co-founded the guitar innovation venture Cool Acoustics.
Bahar Şener
Department of Industrial Design, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
United Kingdom
Bahar Şener recently re-joined the Department of Industrial Design at Middle East Technical University, Turkey, as Full Professor. Previously, she was a founding academic for the BEng (Hons) Industrial Design program offered jointly between the University of Liverpool (UK) and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (China). Her research spans design for rich product experiences, digitalization of industrial design processes, and design for wellbeing. Bahar has contributed to and supervised a substantial portfolio of design and innovation projects in collaboration with national and international companies including Arçelik, BSH, Vestel, Procter & Gamble, and Bentley Motors Ltd.
Debra Lilley
Design School, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Debra Lilley is a Senior Lecturer based in the Design School at Loughborough University, whose research focuses on people’s attitudinal responses to materials which have changed through time and use, and how these attitudes inform their behavior within the context of the circular economy. She is currently developing resources to enable designers to better understand and exploit material change as a tool to engender emotional attachment and longer product lifetimes.
Ben Bridgens
School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Ben Bridgens is a structural engineer based in the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape at Newcastle University, whose research focuses on the role of materials in design, making, and experience. Collaborations with product designers, artists, and architects have enabled him to apply technical expertise in material testing and characterisation, material ageing, responsive materials and lightweight tensile structures to broader questions of sustainable design, consumption and the circular economy. He is currently exploring how materials change through the lifetime of an object or building, and how better understanding of this material metamorphosis could be used to create emotionally durable artefacts.