MATERIALDESIGN_Design Research Symposium 

(18. July 2025)

Materialdesign expands and challenges the disciplinary boundaries and the understanding of design. Designing with materials is inherently a practice of researching, experimentation and crossing traditional disciplinary borders. The dialogue with materials encourages the exploration of novel forms, techniques, and fosters innovative outcomes – in this way, Materialdesign drives the evolution of new paradigms and approaches in design practice and research.

The Symposium explores the evolving roles of materials design of generating knowledge through practice. By bringing together international researchers working in this scope, we aim to provide a holistic overview of this evolving field, to discuss the future roles of Materialdesign in the design study.

I co-organised this event with Prof. Dr. Markus Holzbach, Prof. Dr. Tom Bieling, and Valentin Brück. In addition, I served as the event host and presented my research in the Perspectives Session.

Invited speakers: 

Keynote Speaker:  Prof. Dr. Valentina Rognoli – Politecnico di Milano

Invited session speakers: 

MATERIALDESIGN – Boundaries Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten, Carolin Pertsch, Emma Sicher

MATERIALDESIGN – Capabilities Dr Camilo Ayala-Garcia, Malu Lücking, Steffen Reiter, Sofia Soledad Duarte Poblete 

MATERIALDESIGN – Perspectives Dr Ziyu Zhou, Meri Zirkelbach, and Valentin Brück

Symposium Location: 

IMD Institute for Materialdesign and Advanced Material Studies

Palleskestraße 32

65929 

Frankfurt am Main