The Italian Design Approach to Materials between tangible and intangible Meanings

This article deals with the Italian Design approach to Materials based on a long tradition of challenging exchanges between intellectual practices. Focusing on design and enterprises history, the authors, on the basis of their previous studies, explain the approach and the reasons of the osmotic process between technology and humanities in Italy, and how those challenging exchanges impacted on production as well as on further 80 Cuaderno 70 | Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación (2018). pp 67-80 ISSN 1668-0227 Marinella Ferrara and Anna Cecilia Russo The Italian Design Approach to Materials (...) developments. An overview of the European cultural landscape of the times helps to focus on the leading theories that still represent a stronghold of Design Humanities. Exploring the semiotic meaning of materials enhances the investigations on their applications as well as new, ongoing researches in the field of Material Design, also in terms of sustainability and interaction.