Chiara Scarpitti | Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli (original) (raw)

Books by Chiara Scarpitti

Bachelor in Fashion Design, Projects and Thesis. Curated by Chiara Scarpitti, 2023

The volume Postdigital Fashion & Jewellery in the Making deals with the theme of post-digital and... more The volume Postdigital Fashion & Jewellery in the Making deals with the theme of post-digital and a new mixture, material and technological, within the fashion and jewelry project.
In contemporary times, matter goes through a profound process of investigation, dematerialization, and recomposition: the corpuscular nature of matter refers to that of bits, while in a continuous flux, the designer finds himself manipulating and recomposing both digital and physical matter. We face a renewed culture of fashion and jewelry in the sense of a profound realization of their processual, aesthetic, and symbolic possibilities. Through the use of technologies, it is, in fact, possible to trace new horizons and build visions diverging from deterministic and rationalist technological thinking. As shown by the project outputs of the Fashion Design Workshops and the Degree Theses illustrated in the Volume, the post-digital introduces meanings and representations capable of triggering, from both a speculative and workshop perspective, a new design complexity.
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Il volume Postdigital Fashion & Jewellery in the Making affronta il tema del post-digitale e di una nuova mescolanza, materica e tecnologica, all'interno del progetto moda e gioiello.
Nella contemporaneità, la materia attraversa un profondo processo di indagine, smaterializzazione e ricomposizione: la natura corpuscolare della materia rimanda a quella dei bit, mentre in un continuo flusso, il designer si trova a manipolare e ricomporre sia la materia digitale che quella fisica. Ci troviamo di fronte a una rinnovata cultura della moda e del gioiello, nel senso di un’attuazione profonda delle loro possibilità processuali, estetiche e simboliche. Attraverso l’uso delle tecnologie è, infatti, possibile tracciare nuovi orizzonti, costruendo visioni divergenti da un pensiero tecnologico deterministico e razionalista. Come mostrato dagli output progettuali dei Laboratori di Design per la Moda e dalle Tesi di Laurea illustrate nel Volume, il post digitale introduce significati e rappresentazioni capaci di innescare, in un’ottica sia speculativa che laboratoriale, una nuova complessità progettuale.

Officina Journal n. 41, 2023

The issue Bodies and Care invites us to observe the multiple natures of the body and care, in the... more The issue Bodies and Care invites us to observe the multiple natures of the body and care, in their different scales and manifestations of existence, between organic and inorganic, biological and technological, human and non-human. Beyond anthropocentric supremacy, the following essays express a posthuman design vision toward new aesthetic and hybrid horizons. Researchers and designers offer multiple perspectives on the questions that characterize the present and the future: what bodies can design interrogate? In what ways can we imagine new alliances? How can technology be an unveiling agent?
Bodies and care are interwoven within the issue through various essays involving different design territories, from fashion to public space, from product design to interior architecture, highlighting new approaches to contemporary theories and practices. The dimension referred to is multispecies, postdigital, and transdisciplinary: it is about a body that is not afraid of confrontation with otherness, about a caring that expands beyond the human.

LetteraVentidue, Siracusa. Collana Scientifica Alleli, 2020

Oggetti Pensiero è un libro che condensa due azioni: il pensare e il fare. In un’ottica neoumanis... more Oggetti Pensiero è un libro che condensa due azioni: il pensare e il fare. In un’ottica neoumanista, le istanze della contemporaneità vengono prese in esame attraverso una riappropriazione dei concetti di tecnica e materia, intesi come strumenti di speculazione sensibile del progetto. Dall’incontro tra saperi tecno- scientifici e umanistico-artistici nascono nuove connessioni tra organismo e macchina, uomo e ambiente, esseri umani, oggetti e piante. Il risultato di tali ibridazioni conduce all’elaborazione di nuove relazioni di consumo, verso artefatti sinestetici, intesi a loro volta come oggetti-pensiero - in un’accezione filosofica, “cose” volte alla comprensione più profonda dell’essere umano. Grazie ad una serie di esperienze collaborative, i processi progettuali raccolti nella seconda parte del libro - in forma di oggetti - definiscono tre ambiti di ricerca: corpi postdigitali, bioindustrie, nature artificiali. Oggetti e organismi non sono mai stati cosi vicini, poiché elaborati da tecniche digitali simili e da un nuovo paradigma di riproducibilità che opera secondo le logiche della natura. Al progettista spetta il ruolo fondamentale di agente catalizzatore di questi orizzonti, per la messa in luce di orientamenti del pensiero connessi a una nuova idea di sostenibilità e reciprocità ecosistemica.

Trento/Barcellona: ListLab. Collana Design Experience, 2019

The multiple in its relations with art and industry is the starting point for an investigation in... more The multiple in its relations with art and industry is the starting point for an investigation into the evolution of jewellery design. Overcoming an obsolete notion of industrial seriality, contemporary jewellery stands out as a highly innovative field of research, for its ability to understand the object through new aesthetics, meanings and materials, towards an idea of singular multiple. The research opens a design perspective to a jewel designed for a consumption not only tangible but intellectual, because it expands its meanings to a wider spectrum of themes and goals, such as sustainability, material and technological innovation, political and social issues that concern the contemporaneity. From digital to post-digital, mixing atoms and bits, even the design of the jewel builds new scenarios, where innovative software, 3D scanners, manipulations of materials and transdisciplinary contaminations expand the boundaries of research.

Trento/Barcellona: ListLab. Collana Design Experience, 2018

Il multiplo nelle sue relazioni con l’arte e l’industria è il punto di partenza per un’indagine s... more Il multiplo nelle sue relazioni con l’arte e l’industria è il punto di partenza per un’indagine sull’evoluzione del design del gioiello. Verso il superamento di un’obsoleta nozione di serialità industriale, la gioielleria contemporanea si contraddistingue come un ambito di ricerca fortemente innovativo, per la sua capacità di intendere l’oggetto attraverso nuove estetiche, significati e materiali, verso un’idea di multiplo singolare. La ricerca apre una prospettiva progettuale ad un gioiello pensato per un consumo non solo tangibile ma intellettuale, poiché dilata i suoi significati a un più ampio spettro di temi e finalità, come la sostenibilità, l’innovazione materico-tecnologica, le problematiche di natura politica e sociale che interessano la contemporaneità. Dal digitale al postdigitale, mescolando atomi e bits, anche il design del gioiello costruisce inediti scenari, dove software innovativi, scanner 3D, manipolazioni di materiali e contaminazioni transdisciplinari espandono i confini della ricerca.

Edizioni Il Laboratorio, 2017

Ciascun autore è chiamato a redigere un dialogo per interrogarsi sul senso profondo del sentire l... more Ciascun autore è chiamato a redigere un dialogo per interrogarsi sul senso profondo del sentire la città. Il manifesto dialogico, scritto a mano attraverso delle serigrafie, diventa un modo per ripensare il proprio essere nel luogo. La mostra presenta una serie di opere/contenitori epistemologici, quali vasi, scatole, sculture intesi come dispositivi per visualizzare pensieri altrimenti astratti. Le forme cave, nel loro essere vuote, sono riempite di un senso, come di un liquido dialogico, che è il messaggio, l’idea che il designer/artista vuole offrire al pubblico. Gli autori invitati, vivono tutti a Napoli o tra Napoli e altre città, e hanno in comune un approccio transdisciplinare al progetto, basato su una costante tensione, talvolta conflittuale, tra arte e design. hyle non propone certezze, ma le scardina. Non rassicura il visitatore su quello che è il ruolo del Design contemporaneo a Napoli, ma anzi lo conduce in un’atmosfera cupa, drammaturgica. La sfida di hyle è quella di accendere una luce sulla ricerca transdisciplinare e intellettuale che attraversa la creatività della città. Una creatività scomposta, rumorosa, fatta di particelle eterogenee, densa di pathos, che chiede attenzione.

Franco Angeli, 2017

Book Chapters. There is no slogan better known than the famous work by Adolf Loos: Ornament and c... more Book Chapters. There is no slogan better known than the famous work by Adolf Loos: Ornament and crime. But the ornament is not the only crime attributed to the object since the advent of the industrial revolution. Too many, cold, pointless, inert, ephemeral, indigestible, mute: anonymous objects as the result of the uncontrolled replication of machines; kitsch or consumerist objects; indigestible to the ecosystem insofar as they are unable to biodegrade; ephemeral because they are disposable; mute because they are lacking in any meaning or interactiveness. The ideal trial to be conducted on the industrial object puts, sometimes randomly, a steel handle or plastic vase, a decorated chair, packaging or a neon bulb in the docks... deeming them to be severe indications of a crime against art or the soul, against ecology or civilisation, taste or imagination. Starting out from this critique, at times somewhat harsh, focused on the industrial product, the essay highlights crucial turning points in the design culture that, in particular as from the 1960s, looks to be busy rethinking its very object to transform it profoundly. A new scientific imaginary, the influence of art, the environmental issues and technological evolution come together throughout the twentieth century to mobilise the traditional concept of “things”, setting them out along the material/immaterial binomial. In this context, the discipline of design plays a major role, becoming the interpreter of the metamorphosis of the object that took place with the post-industrial age. Through twelve key words that encompass the response to a charge brought against the object, the book identifies a series of influential phenomenon that today characterize design and, finally, discovers the only true crime that design can commit.

Franco Angeli, 2016

Capitoli Libro. Attraverso 12 parole-chiave, il libro individua una serie di fenomeni innovativi ... more Capitoli Libro. Attraverso 12 parole-chiave, il libro individua una serie di fenomeni innovativi e influenti che caratterizzano oggi il design. Ciascuna parola-chiave, per seguire la metafora del processo all’oggetto, è associata alla precisazione di alcuni capi di accusa che si suppone ne motivino per reazione l’emergenza. Fino a scoprire, infine, quello che è l’unico vero delitto che può commettere il design.

Papers by Chiara Scarpitti

For Nature/With Nature: New Sustainable Design Scenarios, 2024

The contribution investigates the theme of new materiality through the interference between two a... more The contribution investigates the theme of new materiality through the interference between two approaches: one theoretical and critical, the second one analytical and cartographic. The intertwining of these two perspectives enables us to recognise and comprehend the genesis of a novel approach to shaping matter. Adopting an anti-dualistic and anti-hierarchical approach allows us to expand our vision beyond the human-centric viewpoint by recognising the intrinsic interdepen- dence of humans and non-human entities. Such a paradigm shift leads to considering a different design strategy that benefits humans and the environment. The case studies examined progress towards the complete interpenetration of humanity and nature: the selected artefacts embody a new ecological vision that materialises the total interpenetration between subject and object. The terrestrial scale is the latest design dimension, as each design contribution fits within a global, connected ecological envi- ronment marked by multiple agents. Highlighting how all entities are entwined in an interdependent network, design culture moves toward a co-evolutionary perspective, which fosters a renovated coexistence among heterogeneous living species and king- doms. In terms of technology, the confluence of a wide range of disciplines, such as biotechnology, material science, and digital computation, defines a hybrid territory in which synthetic and biological are being reshuffled. Through illustrated maps, the essay explores a range of philosophical theories, bio-designers, and research centres which reflect on the meaning of the matter to develop new productive metaphors. They serve as a register of knowledge for a new vision of materiality.

CIMODE 2023, Advances in Fashion and Design Research II - Springer, 2024

The paper summarizes the objectives, methods, and results of an experimentation project on sustai... more The paper summarizes the objectives, methods, and results of an experimentation project on sustainability in the fashion sector, funded by the European Community in 2022, shared between three partners of different geographical origins. Among these, the Italian team, differentiating itself from the others who have chosen to work on zero waste or recycling, has explored upcycling as a technique which, going beyond the simple material reuse and recycling of trousseau and fabrics, in this case, referring to traditional kits, triggers an upgrade process capable of raising its value compared to the original. The singularity of the experiment is inherent in its multi- and trans-disciplinary character and the complexity of the subjects involved, in the manipulation techniques adopted, and in the construction of innovative and disruptive fashion concepts. The extension of the project brief to about 450 students and numerous teachers enhances the value of the experience, enhances the diversity of the garments in their being singular products but tuned to a common theme, and amplifies the diffusion of the ethical message, which is the basis of the objectives of the project. The result is a multiform repertoire in which every expression contributes to the definition of a polyphonic choir, unique and multiple at the same time.

Multidisciplinary Aspects of Design Objects, Processes, Experiences and Narratives. Springer Series in Design and Innovation 37, 2024

Through an applied research project in the field of contemporary design, the essay identifies and... more Through an applied research project in the field of contemporary design, the essay identifies and illustrates the passage of three philosophical transitions: the idea of the object as a design project (Flusser, Sottsass, Mendini) – first transition -, crosses over to the realm of the thing (Heidegger, Bodei, Rigotti) – second transition – until it reaches the notion of the hyperobject (Harman, Morton), – third transition – involving human and non-human entities.
Through reclaiming for design the possibility of becoming a trigger for divergent thinking, the object acquires new human and dialogic qualities. The transition from the object-function to the object-thought [1] transforms the meaning of the product to the extent that it is no longer a passive element of dialogical discourse but rather the triggering actor of that same process of confrontation. In this perspective, the object transforms from an exclusive commodity with normal function into a thing full of meaning and expressive possibility. Such objects are connected to the individual and the intellectual relationship they establish. From a posthuman perspective, they are narrative subjects of a reflection increasingly striving for a pluriverse coexistence beyond humankind itself.
The last transition, to the hyperobject, is illustrated through a design experience at the boundary between these three value transitions. The final hyperobjects designed have their primary meaning and raising awareness around diverse relationships – with ecosystems, beyond the human – unhinging an outdated interrogation idea that sees the object forcibly relegated to the world of practical and tangible consumer commodities.

Dune Vol.004 n.001 Biosphere | Flash Art Editor, 2023

The essay investigates the realms of the posthuman, in the contemporary environmental and new mat... more The essay investigates the realms of the posthuman, in the contemporary environmental and new materialist sense, in terms of the deep connection between our postdigital corporeality and other types of existence. Interweaving philosophical theories and posthuman reflections, the culture of fashion is examined from the perspective of a new material aesthetics and a post-anthropocentric consciousness.
The essay looks at the destiny of beauty and the meaning that it takes on with respect to the technological transition and the determinism that the digital generates, culminating in its contemporary evolution, understood as meaning or injury.

Fashion Highlightl No. 02 , 2023

Over the past decade, the proliferation of electronic devices, wearables, and information tech- n... more Over the past decade, the proliferation of electronic devices, wearables, and information tech- nology has enabled the collection and extraction of vast amounts of personal and behavioural data, penetrating our physical nature until biological. We are witnessing the gradual transfor- mation of data mining into life mining. The big data collected feeds machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence systems, which effectively implement real-time surveillance of our lives, mainly for commercial purposes. Starting from theoretical reflections on the human and non-hu- man component inside AI, the essay identifies some projects by fashion and jewellery designers that subvert the ubiquitous surveillance system, acting concretely in specific processual and technological dynamics. By supporting a disruptive approach, the essay seeks to chart new spa- ces of design thinking that disobey or begin to question the prevailing logic involved in AI on our bodies.

DIID n.81, 2023

Synesthetic identities is part of a research study that looks at the landscape as a living organi... more Synesthetic identities is part of a research study that looks at the landscape as a living organism, mutable and connected to a complex ecosystem of physical and immaterial elements. Starting with well-established theoretical principles, the paper describes an experiment conducted in 2021 using brain-computer interfaces to demonstrate how the visual landscape is not immutable, identical for everyone, and static in time. Instead, it strictly depends on the relationship estab- lished with the viewer and the interpolation of a series of vari- ables - sound, colour, and light - that influence perception. The outcome demonstrates how it is necessary to rethink visual landscapes by looking at them as plural, mutable systems, constantly reconfigured by the relationship with the human body, thus opening up new design possibilities in the field of visual design.

Sustainability n.15, 5464, 2023

This paper discusses the domain of do-it-yourself (DIY) biomaterials applied to design, by analys... more This paper discusses the domain of do-it-yourself (DIY) biomaterials applied to design, by analysing aims, speculative value and aesthetics emerging from this encounter. From a transdisciplinary perspective, the convergence of post-anthropocentric philosophies with systematic experiments in two different laboratories, located in Italy and China, demonstrates how design practices can contribute to new forms of human–nature relationships, highlighting a pluriverse way to understand life. Because of the dual approach of philosophical theories and hands-on experiments, biomaterials become tangible tools which change the very idea of “designed objects”: they assign to artefacts circular, living, and integrated properties, thereby placing them within the notion of an ecosystem. Nevertheless, beyond bio-based properties, the three most interesting qualities emerging from this theoretical–practical study are (1) 1:1 scale of production, (2) organic-formless aesthetic, and (3) multi species coexistence. We argue that through such a model of bioproduction, the designer can assume the role of catalyst for a post-anthropocentric vision, dismantling the feeling of separation, alterity, and not-belonging between the human and the nonhuman, between objects and organisms.

AND V.42 N.2 (2022): Territori > Moda , 2022

The Officina Vanvitelli project – a light district dedicated to fashion and design, inaugurated i... more The Officina Vanvitelli project – a light district dedicated to fashion and design, inaugurated in 2019 – represents a case of particular relevance on a national level and an opportunity for the Campania Region aimed at consolidating its excellence. The Hub, dedicated to design and fashion-oriented research, is located at the Monumental Complex of the Belvedere di San Leucio in Caserta within a multifunctional space furnished with equipment and machinery for advanced production.
Beginning with an analysis of the intangibility of fashion as an observatory of the contemporary, the contribution makes explicit the work carried so far by Officina V:, with particular attention to the new technologies and fashion-oriented manufacturing processes. The essay concludes by describing some recent fashion research projects to trace future developments and approaches of the Hub to enhance its authenticity.

Beyond All Limits - International Conference on Sustainability in Architecture, Planning, and Design, 2022

The essay explores the possible horizons of fashion-oriented research from a perspective of techn... more The essay explores the possible horizons of fashion-oriented research from a perspective of technological manipulation of the body. Through an intense and critical dialogue series, the body's construction is projected on the border between tangible and virtual to rediscover new expressive possibilities. From an analytical case study mapping phase, the project aimed to experiment with an interactive engagement of a series of focus groups with advanced digital technologies. The second part of the essay illustrates a parametric study aimed at defining seven animations dedicated to each lecture. The seven animations, executed through the software grasshopper, accompany the different dialogues intended as different perspectives around the digital body.

Brain-Apparatus Communication: A Journal of Bacomics, 2022

The paper describes the results of seven-year experimental research between manufacturing process... more The paper describes the results of seven-year experimental research between manufacturing processes of product design and the BCI - Brain–Computer Interfaces field, afferent to neuroscience. From analyzing a postdigital scenario and the emergence of a series of case studies, the essay proposes theoretical-applicative research that develops new cooperation between BCI and object-oriented 3d printing technologies.
From a humanistic perspective, the paper identifies the postdigital scenario as a conjunction plane between the constant bio-technological acceleration and digital culture. In the interaction of BCI with the Internet of Things, the contribution illustrates the meaning of the primary brain frequencies and some wearable devices able to detect them. The essay then describes the rise in the last decade of a series of design experiences on the borderline between design and neuroscience, highlighting how these technological hybridizations can lead to the singularization of objects.
The final part carries out its path of technological innovation into practice through the experimentation of two processes: Alpha and Flows. The most operative part of the process investigates the interaction between different brain waves and software, the BCI’s connection with the subjects, and the 3d printing of the results. Both experimental phases implement hybrid manufacturing processes, involving citizens in a process of scientific awareness through direct interaction with the artifacts created.
By showing the expressive possibilities and touchpoints between neuroscience and design, the contribution tries to be a tangible manifestation of a design culture that integrates different scientific knowledge and skills. The conclusions place the adoption of BCIs within a conscious digital design aimed at a double outcome: on the one hand, bringing citizens closer to neuroscience issues, and on the other, activating transdisciplinary processes towards a hybrid production.

Convergencias Vol. 15 No. 29, 2022

The Digital era ended bequeathing remarkable technological advancements and numerous queries rela... more The Digital era ended bequeathing remarkable technological advancements and numerous queries related to the critical evolution between productive activities and the survival of human beings on planet Earth. In a scenario where the fashion industry is considered one of the relevant players, postdigital fashion emerge with interesting design strategies and fabrication tools that open up new possibilities for more equal and sustainable development. To outline desirable future directions, the research PostDigital Manufacturing Processes. Body Hacking for Productive Systems has examined fifty designer cases studies. In these selected design studios, computational design, wearable technologies, biomaterials, and virtual interfaces are involved in redesigning the fashion role and the whole concept of the human body as a hybrid in the intersection between physical and digital realms.

PAD - Pages on Arts and Design Journal, 2022

The paper investigates some recent manufacturing processes of biohacking and synthetic biology ap... more The paper investigates some recent manufacturing processes of biohacking and synthetic biology applied to the fashion textile sector, comparing their laboratory practices, intentions and appearances. By linking heterogeneous knowledge in a transdisciplinary vision, the paper analyses their potential, combining case studies, processes, and arising aesthetics. In this scenario, the laboratory practices are configured as open study processes, oriented toward a new way of conceiving fashion manufacture, perfectly integrated with the planet’s ecosystems. Among the most interesting aspects, new forms of awareness, intimately linked to the nature to which humankind belongs, emerge, pushing the designer to the role of a catalyst of a sustainable and multispecies vision. Through an analysis of case studies, the contribution finally reflects the rise of an aesthetic-sensorial paradigm: the formless. All biomaterials and dyes deriving from living organisms seem to relate to this aesthetic category since they lead to a different conception of shape, color, and substance. In contrast to a classical aesthetic perfection, biomaterials and bio textiles often reveal textures that are dotted, shaded, imperfect, antihierarchic, opaque, unpredictable, and for this reason, they shake the viewer, destabilizing him. The contribution aims to promote an investigation into fashion-oriented bio practices connecting transdisciplinary knowledges to fascinating aesthetics for the consolidation of new fashion imagery.

Bachelor in Fashion Design, Projects and Thesis. Curated by Chiara Scarpitti, 2023

Officina Journal n. 41, 2023

LetteraVentidue, Siracusa. Collana Scientifica Alleli, 2020

Trento/Barcellona: ListLab. Collana Design Experience, 2019

Trento/Barcellona: ListLab. Collana Design Experience, 2018

Edizioni Il Laboratorio, 2017

Franco Angeli, 2017

Franco Angeli, 2016

For Nature/With Nature: New Sustainable Design Scenarios, 2024

CIMODE 2023, Advances in Fashion and Design Research II - Springer, 2024

Multidisciplinary Aspects of Design Objects, Processes, Experiences and Narratives. Springer Series in Design and Innovation 37, 2024

Dune Vol.004 n.001 Biosphere | Flash Art Editor, 2023

Fashion Highlightl No. 02 , 2023

DIID n.81, 2023

Sustainability n.15, 5464, 2023

AND V.42 N.2 (2022): Territori > Moda , 2022

Beyond All Limits - International Conference on Sustainability in Architecture, Planning, and Design, 2022

Brain-Apparatus Communication: A Journal of Bacomics, 2022

Convergencias Vol. 15 No. 29, 2022

PAD - Pages on Arts and Design Journal, 2022

SID Italian Design Society - Design per Connettere, 2022

La ricerca “Analisi critica e linee strategiche per il potenziamento del sistema moda in Campania... more La ricerca “Analisi critica e linee strategiche per il potenziamento del sistema moda in Campania”, coordinata dall’Università degli Studi degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in collaborazione con i cinque atenei regionali, ha avuto l’obiettivo di promuovere il patrimonio culturale campano della moda e del design, attraverso lo sviluppo di strategie innovative utili a guidare la Regione Campania alla comprensione e alla valorizzazione della filiera fashion-oriented. Tra i diversi risultati della ricerca, il paper illustra la progettazione dell’organismo regionale e del brand modec – Moda e Design in Campania, il cui scopo è sostenere e promuovere le imprese, il tessuto produttivo e il capitale umano territoriale; e la sezione “Archivi Viventi”, un archivio digitale sul capitale umano d’eccellenza, della piattaforma digitale Fashion Open Book (in corso di pubblicazione) caratterizzata da una mappatura conoscitiva delle imprese e del patrimonio monumentale e produttivo di settore. La piattaforma, progettata secondo la logica open access, offre alla collettività la possibilità di osservare, implementare e scaricare materiali di ricerca inediti volti a valorizzare il comparto campano della moda.

Design per connettere Persone, patrimoni, processi, 2022

Il progetto “Biofabricated” mira all’indagine di tecnologie ibridanti al confine tra fashion, des... more Il progetto “Biofabricated” mira all’indagine di tecnologie ibridanti al confine tra fashion, design products e microbiologia per la sperimentazione di nuovi processi manifatturieri. Muovendosi in una visione transdisciplinare che mette in relazione competenze scientifiche eterogenee, la proposta progettuale indaga la fattibilità di sistemi produttivi che combinano tecniche di biohacking e DIYmaterials mediante
una progettualità circolare ed innovativa.
Il progetto prevede la sperimentazione di tre processi di biofabbricazione – Microbial Skins, Plantae 3D Craft, BioDyeing Bacteria – attraverso l’utilizzo di organismi viventi, materiali organici, tecnologie e strumentazioni di laboratorio. L’obiettivo è quello di verificare e promuovere una nuova industria sostenibile, attivando pratiche
transdisciplinari in grado di costruire processi volti a nuove sensorialità estetiche e materiche. Attraverso una piattaforma comunicativa in open access e diverse attività di disseminazione abilitanti, “Biofabricated”
coinvolge, infine, designer e stakeholder, per rinsaldarne in maniera più consapevole le pratiche virtuose.

SID Italian Design Society - Design per Connettere, 2022

“Post Digital Manufacturing Processes”, finanziato nell’ambito del “Programma Valere” dell’Univer... more “Post Digital Manufacturing Processes”, finanziato nell’ambito del “Programma Valere” dell’Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, si configura come un progetto dalla natura teorico-applicativa avente come fine la sperimentazione industriale di tecnologie digitali avanzate al confine tra design, tecnologia e corpo. La ricerca si divide in due macrofasi: Design and Prototyping e OpenWorkshops and Testing. Attraverso pratiche di biohacking, la prima fase sperimenta processi manifatturieri, ibridando tecnologie digitali come la stampa 3D, le brain computer interfaces, il face tracking, i dati biometrici. La seconda fase coinvolge invece stakeholder e cittadini in un processo di sensibilizzazione scientifica, mediante l’interazione diretta con gli artefatti realizzati e nella generazione di nuovi output, finalizzati all’innesco di ulteriori riflessioni. Sperimentando processi postdigitali, progettando una piattaforma web e disseminandone i risultati, il progetto – non ancora concluso – si pone l’obiettivo di promuovere una cultura transdisciplinare del design, aperta alle nuove prospettive e pratiche dell’industria digitale contemporanea.

Journal of Jewellery Research – Volume 04, 2021

The essay affirms the legitimacy of contemporary jewelry practice as a meaningful form of cultura... more The essay affirms the legitimacy of contemporary jewelry practice as a meaningful form of cultural production that cuts across the fields of design, art, and industrial production. The analysis is double and concerns the meaning of the ornament, and its projection to future scenarios defined by renovated instances and digital technologies.
Concerning the ornamentation's debate, it has been at the center of the entire 20th century, from Loos to Morris, Bloch to Maldonado right up to the present day. The question has mainly focused on the usefulness of decoration, the aesthetics and its value. Following the instances of contemporaneity, the objects move now in a multi-faceted direction, aimed at asking questions and expressing concepts, and becoming, in this sense, narrative and relational "subjects". In the jewel object, where uselessness constitutes its immense wealth and uniqueness, the issue becomes complex since its existence is related mainly to a series of functions that are not practical but communicative, and identifiable as intimately useful. Far from a short-term inspiration, the contemporary jewelry designer has necessarily fed on a cultured design study, expressing the vision of the world he wants to communicate. It is not just a matter of embellishing people through an ornament, but of incorporating immaterial values, creating an object- thought capable of stimulating the mind and producing knowledge. Thinking about the future scenario of this design approach, the international debate on jewelry requires new perspectives, focused on deepening the discipline towards the main issues of the current era. In the face of changes such as Industry 4.0 and widespread digitalization, it is no surprise that contemporary jewelry starts to need exploring a broader spectrum of topics, including sustainability, technologies, politics and social issues that most influence today's society.

DIID Industrial Design Journal n.75, 2021

By developing practice-based research, through critical and speculative design methodologies, we ... more By developing practice-based research, through critical and speculative design methodologies, we propose a definition of “skin” not as a univocal boundary of subjective bodies (animal, plants, or other creatures), but as a pluriverse membrane of connection across and between species. Deeply inspired by holistic and posthuman philosophical approaches (such as Braidotti, Pannikar, Escobar, Coccia), the ongoing research feeds such a definition of “pluriverse skins” by experiments on bio-media and the relative spec- ulative scenarios. We present three aspects of the study:
a) preliminary reflection about how design is affected and transformed by ecological notions; b) design experiments in bio-media to create skins that can unfold as the carrier of new forms of ecological awareness; c) discussion about the aesthetic of bioskins and implication for the notion of a new post-anthropocentrism at large. Pluriverse Skins offers an alternative look into bio- materials, by the means of practical and speculative investigation: in the paper we discuss how such an approach could contribute to reshaping the meaning of bio production, within the emerging post-anthropocentric paradigm.

Spirit of luxury and design. A perspective from contemporary fashion and jewellery, 2021

The essay analyzes a series of case studies of contemporary jewelry that highlight a renewed rela... more The essay analyzes a series of case studies of contemporary jewelry that highlight a renewed relationship between design and technology, as for example, the construction of bio-inspired ornaments. From atoms to bits to return to atoms - or rather to physical matter and the importance of our corporeity - one of the future scenarios of jewelry design consists in a total customization that takes the individual as the starting point and arrival of the project. In the post-digital era, the design production no longer means repetition identical to itself, but it is a process of singularization of an object that, combined with a person, reveals its most intangible component. The tangibility of our existence passes through a revisitation of the body, understood as a field for a project exploration of both analogical nature, through the adoption of traditional goldsmith techniques and artisan production, and digital, through the use of new technologies and computerized tools.

Gemme e Gioielli: Storia e Design., 2021

Through a series of photographs in which self-produced jewelry is mixed with mood boards and self... more Through a series of photographs in which self-produced jewelry is mixed with mood boards and self-portraits, the contribution tries to highlight the practice- based reflexive approach experimented in the Fashion Laboratory 2 of the Three- year BA Fashion Design course. Here, the ornaments constructed - and exhibited at the end of the course - are superimposed on the images that generated and guided them, according to a renewed relationship between thought, visual culture, and matter. In this perspective, the object is seen as a micro- space for the physical and sensorial exploration of a new manual skill, expressed both through the adoption of traditional processes and the use of innovative techniques and computerized tools. The result that emerges is a corpus of 60 pieces of jewelry, made using a critical making methodology that opens up the goldsmith’s project to new aesthetics and meanings, in favor of a contemporary jewel seen as a statement.

Design Culture(s) Cumulus Conference Proceedings Roma 2021 Volume #2, 2021

Switching from the function-object to the speculative-object transforms the meaning of the object... more Switching from the function-object to the speculative-object transforms the meaning of the object, in so far as it is no longer a passive element of the discourse, but the triggering actor of an embodied reflexive process. In this perspective, the object transforms itself, from a functioning commodity to an open minded "thing" full of meaning. (Bodei, 2009). Understanding it as a device of thought, the speculative-object, becomes the narrating subject for a cultural reflection on humankind and it definitively changes its ontological status. (Harman, 2018). It imposes itself as a cognitive trigger of emancipation compared to a predeterminated thought, toward a deconstructive logic that does not give absolute solutions. In this context, the designer transforms himself from the one who solves problems (problem solver) to the one who identifies problems (problem-finder), through an investigative approach oriented towards evolving scenarios. Speculative objects therefore connect subject and thought and the more they exhort a disruptive vision, the more they demonstrate their intrinsic capacity to produce change.