The materiality of a product – the nature and provenance of its physicality – can challenge a user’s established value systems and ethical stances towards design, manufacturing processes and consumer culture. In my design practice, I create products made from animal parts, plants and undervalued man-made materials, which initiate an engagement with contemporary social and ethical issues such as the over-fishing of oceans and moral implications of the use of animal derived materials.

This practice-based PhD is set in the context of the museum as both a repository for knowledge and an upholder and disseminator of good design. I am exploring curatorial and educational approaches towards design that challenges the observer’s perception of values, ethics and material usage.

Initially I focus on developing seaweed into design materials for a wide range of applications, exploring questions such as its potential as a natural alternative to man-made plastics and endangered woods, and investigating the prospect of kelp farming as a lucrative substitute for communities dependent on collapsing fish stocks.

I will research the work of contemporary designers who are exemplary practitioners of material innovation, such as Gaetano Pesce and Thomas Heatherwick. I will also approach the problem by working with material scientists who can provide a more analytic approach to the physical constraints and possibilities of particular materials.

The thematic context I address in my thesis is ‘Critical Design', a movement that emerged in 1999 through the work of Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. Critical Design uses the language of product design to provoke dialogue and reflection about contemporary issues such as genetic engineering and biotechnology, and proponents of this approach to design and social commentary have increasingly used the museum and gallery contexts as staging grounds for their sometimes subversive interventions.