Emotional Engagement with Materials: Observation on Material Dialogue Between Potter and Clay

This article examines the role that designers have in the process of designing materials and how, through their direct manipulation and transformation, they can convey emotions and cultural values in the final artifact. It also analyzes the process clay goes through as it becomes an object and the emotions that are elicited in the encounter between human beings, materials, and the context in which they operate. Considering the increase in the use of new materials and the consequent depletion of natural resources, this approach aims to offer new ways to understand and rediscover traditional materials such as ceramic. Moreover, a new vision of the role of materials as a vehicle of emotions is investigated, both during their processing and in their final use when they are embedded in artifacts. The incorporation of craft practices into the design process enables new ways of conceiving traditional materials like ceramic. Designers also need to develop manual skills, as they are a way of thinking and a source for emotional involvement with materials and artifacts.