Material Kin: Fashioning Foam for Buoyancy Developing Bio-based and Biodegradable Foam Material for Climate Breakdown

McLean, Nahum

Material Kin: Fashioning Foam for Buoyancy Developing Bio-based and Biodegradable Foam Material for Climate Breakdown

McLean, Nahum

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2024

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	McLean, Nahum
dc.date.accessioned	2025-06-01T23:35:18Z
dc.date.available	2025-06-01T23:35:18Z
dc.date.issued	2024
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/187573
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	Devasting bushfires and flooding have been ravaging the eastern and southern states of Australia with unprecedented ferocity since 2019. Living in Australia amidst climate breakdown demands that we transition towards regenerative and sustainable material systems, but the challenge posed to designers is how do we design without extractive and exploitative processes? How do we make kin with new materials? Responding to this context this thesis highlights an alternative mode of interaction between materials and designers and shows how a critical design piece can emerge from practice-led research that promotes material kinship. I have developed the Material Kin Relational Ontology (MAKRO)– a theoretical framework that promotes a way of working and collaborating with materials and processes where ingredients, materials and myself are all considered as kin. Being kin implies relationships of reciprocity and care, which in the context of bio-based materials design can mean cultivating, cohabiting and regenerating. This thesis presents a case study of MAKRO in action, showing the development of novel cellulose-based foam material, which is then fashioned into a critical design object– a bio-based and biodegradable lifejacket. Responding to Australia’s rapidly rising flood waters, the lifejacket is intended to trouble the distinction between a product and a critical design object, it provides buoyancy, but it also prompts those who encounter and use it to imagine a post-petrochemical materials world, a future where we show responsibility and care towards the world and material kin.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/187573/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2024 Nahum McLean
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Material Kin: Fashioning Foam for Buoyancy Developing Bio-based and Biodegradable Foam Material for Climate Breakdown	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

Devasting bushfires and flooding have been ravaging the eastern and southern states of Australia with unprecedented ferocity since 2019. Living in Australia amidst climate breakdown demands that we transition towards regenerative and sustainable material systems, but the challenge posed to designers is how do we design without extractive and exploitative processes? How do we make kin with new materials? Responding to this context this thesis highlights an alternative mode of interaction between materials and designers and shows how a critical design piece can emerge from practice-led research that promotes material kinship. I have developed the Material Kin Relational Ontology (MAKRO)– a theoretical framework that promotes a way of working and collaborating with materials and processes where ingredients, materials and myself are all considered as kin. Being kin implies relationships of reciprocity and care, which in the context of bio-based materials design can mean cultivating, cohabiting and regenerating. This thesis presents a case study of MAKRO in action, showing the development of novel cellulose-based foam material, which is then fashioned into a critical design object– a bio-based and biodegradable lifejacket. Responding to Australia’s rapidly rising flood waters, the lifejacket is intended to trouble the distinction between a product and a critical design object, it provides buoyancy, but it also prompts those who encounter and use it to imagine a post-petrochemical materials world, a future where we show responsibility and care towards the world and material kin.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/187573