In her PhD project, Meri Zirkelbach investigates ways of refining material traditions and integrating them in the development of future materials.
Specifically, she focuses on the fields of conservation and restoration, where historical knowledge around materiality—which ranges from traditional craft skills to manifestations of damage—provides inspiration. Her goal is to bridge the divide between lost techniques and future potential. To this end, she analyses various disciplinary approaches and culturally informed notions of material research. It becomes evident that exploring alternative conditions using speculative and design-driven approaches are often met with resistance in a rationalist, science-focused research environment. However, a comparison with classic innovation processes reveals the strengths of speculative methods and their potential for opening new perspectives within materials development.
The project aims to highlight that a profound understanding of previously neglected material tradition can not only enable new design approaches but also advance scientific perspectives and strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration.
