Section 3 | New Media and New Materials

Section 3 | New Media and New Materials

The recurrent economic crises, recent coronavirus pandemic, international concern for the effects of global warming, and a new awareness of responsible and sustainable processes are factors that have led designers to rethink their work and production methods.

Awareness in the last two decades that design and objects of design—even those industrially mass produced—became luxury items largely inaccessible for most ordinary people, many women designers have paused to assess the social role of the discipline today, revisiting the basic principles of good design, conceived to offer solutions to everyday problems and to reflect on the materials used, their production processes, and even their symbolic content.

Biomaterials from mycelium and other organic sources, such as maize, are essential elements in the practice of women designers who seek to propose new ways of practicing design; this is the case of Taina Campos, Andrea Michael, Edith Medina, and Montserrat Piña. In turn, Izaskun Díaz has found a niche in scent design, which invites visitors to invoke memories and senses to complete the design experience.