Brain–computer interfaces and 3d design manufacturing in a postdigital scenario

Abstract

The paper describes the results of seven-year experimental research between manufacturing processes of product design and the BCI - Brain–Computer Interfaces field, afferent to neuroscience. From analyzing a postdigital scenario and the emergence of a series of case studies, the essay proposes theoretical-applicative research that develops new cooperation between BCI and object-oriented 3d printing technologies.

From a humanistic perspective, the paper identifies the postdigital scenario as a conjunction plane between the constant bio-technological acceleration and digital culture. In the interaction of BCI with the Internet of Things, the contribution illustrates the meaning of the primary brain frequencies and some wearable devices able to detect them. The essay then describes the rise in the last decade of a series of design experiences on the borderline between design and neuroscience, highlighting how these technological hybridizations can lead to the singularization of objects.

The final part carries out its path of technological innovation into practice through the experimentation of two processes: Alpha and Flows. The most operative part of the process investigates the interaction between different brain waves and software, the BCI's connection with the subjects, and the 3d printing of the results. Both experimental phases implement hybrid manufacturing processes, involving citizens in a process of scientific awareness through direct interaction with the artifacts created.

By showing the expressive possibilities and touchpoints between neuroscience and design, the contribution tries to be a tangible manifestation of a design culture that integrates different scientific knowledge and skills. The conclusions place the adoption of BCIs within a conscious digital design aimed at a double outcome: on the one hand, bringing citizens closer to neuroscience issues, and on the other, activating transdisciplinary processes towards a hybrid production.

Keywords:

• Brain–computer interfaces
• neuroscience
• postdigital
• product design
• 3d manufacturing
• neurodesign

1. Introduction

1.1. The postdigital scenario, from design to neuroscience

We have always considered objects as inanimate, unable to participate as subjects in our lives; nevertheless, they transmit sensations and emotions. They narrate individual and collective stories, the evolution of our material and technological culture, and the expression of our intentionality on the matter. In this sense, they are narrating subjects, witnesses of our humanity. They are projects we envision onto matter.

From modernity to the present day, there have been countless small and large revolutions, and it is precisely in the relationship with objects that the most profound revolution is taking place. Despite industrial civilization having objectified human capacities in machines, the process now consists of the object’s progressive subjectification through a transfer no longer of doing but of knowledge, what is defined as deep learning and which constitutes the background of artificial intelligence. As we shall see, all this has generated reflections and movements that go beyond the digital visions, introducing research and work themes open to new technological interaction processes.

As a sort of contemporary plankton, the digital condition - with its fluctuating differences - determines a context in which it is not easy to identify the margins of collective meaning. We find ourselves acting in a state of continuous present, squeezed by the speed of happening and the simultaneity of phenomena, where the design project follows countless cultural paths: they concern hybridized knowledge and technologies, social and environmental emergencies.

Today, we can say that the digital world has come of age, even with phenomena not exactly positive. Already in the late 1990s, Nicholas Negroponte announced the end of the digital revolution at the moment when we would become aware of the digital by its absence and not by its presence. :The Digital Revolution is over… Computers will be a sweeping yet invisible part of our everyday lives: we will live in them, wear them, even eat them” [1]. At that time, however, Negroponte did not foresee the longwave and the generative effects on the innovations that would follow: innovations that would also involve the sphere of biotechnological research. The interference between this last great attractor – the biotechnology realm – with the digital revolution thus determines a profound change in knowledge, influenced by the increasing hybridization of digitalization with organic life.

From a transdisciplinary perspective, toward the definition of new manufacturing practices, the contribution traces a path between design, technology, and neuroscience to consolidate their points of contact and possible interactions. In this direction, the postdigital scenario appears the most suitable plane of conjunction for a mature connection between advanced 3d technologies and ongoing biotechnological research.

Today, we speak of postdigital mainly about critical thinking, a new asterism, as opposed to its pervasiveness, “an attitude that is more concerned with being human, than with being digital” [2].

The need to put humans back at the center of the world’s transformation processes is related to designing visions within which design can take on meaning and transformative capacity concerning emerging needs.

The digital revolution has had, indeed, the effects of a seismic event, transforming the world from within and profoundly, affecting interpersonal and working relationships, the material world as much as the immaterial world, and finally, the nature of things: “We are facing a universe dominated by other 'things,' not abstract and immaterial phenomena, but rather lumps of structured matter, solid presences called upon to interact not only with the body but also with the mind, not only with the senses but also with the thought” [3].

The digital is thus colonizing technological systems, continually creating new species and instantly sending pre-existing ideas and products into extinction. We are in a mature phase of the digital revolution in which we have moved from the dematerialization of objects to the dematerialization of actions: we open the front door and pay for our purchases with the same smartphone that performs countless other functions. At the same time, we are wedged in a dimension of human action between immateriality and materiality in a continuous cross-reference: “there is no point in designing a system, be it a data system or a house, if it cannot practically and actively affect things, outside of its immediate materiality” [4]. As Goriunova states, we produce immaterial technologies to generate materiality, which, in turn, will generate new humanity and behavior.

Postdigital hybridism coincides with a DNA capable of generating the evolution of the system of objects and communication and supporting or replacing human functionality. Aram Bartholl’s words, quoted above, show us that, precisely through a human connection between technologies, it is possible to embark on new paths and, above all, to construct visions diverging from the dominant deterministic technological thinking.

As its most significant effect, the re-ontologization of the world by the digital produces the standardization of design thinking. On the other hand, instead, through its critical dimension, the postdigital introduces new meanings and visions [5]. These are open, collective, and intelligent conceptions, capable of experimenting with human qualities precisely from the technological culture of design.

The relationship with the body is described as a permeable and open system in mutual exchange with its digitalization. Biological, technological, and socio-cultural influences shape and alter the body, as well as the brain, and vice versa. In neuroscience, digital technologies have also brought numerous innovations; among these, BCIs – Brain–Computer Interfaces appear to be the most immediate means of entering different contexts of everyday life.

The dialogue between neuroscience and design culture still appears to be little explored. This paper combines theoretical approaches with practical applications as an outline to demonstrate how this relationship can expand. The contribution, revealing expressive design possibilities, intends to be a tangible manifesto of a design culture that integrates these two fields through collaboration between multiple scientific figures and competencies.

Concerning the cooperation with neuroscientists, the essay illustrates the activities of a seven-years research, starting from the encounter between 2014 and 2015 with the Waag Society Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, located in Amsterdam. This experience, activated by the Institute during the European hackathon Hack the Brain (Figure 1), has continued later with other neuroscientists through the Ph.D. in Design and Innovation and has deepened in 2020 thanks to the project funded by the Valere Programme, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, PostDigital Manufacturing Processes. Body Hacking for productive systems.

Figure 1. Hack the Brain, Waag Society in collaboration with the Donders Instituut, 2014.

Between neuroscience and design manufacturing, mixing theoretical studies and practical experiences, the research explored the relationships between the two fields to identify new relationships and synergies. In the encounter between these two fields, the final objective has been to explore the possibility of space for change beyond what the technological context can currently configure as our present.

2. Brain–computer interfaces in the IoT

Unlike the 20th century, which can be defined as the era of the material production of objects [6], the present moment sees the design product changing status, in total hybridization with the digital and living systems [7]. In this exchange between humankind, info data, and nature, the virtual and the physical fusion seems to converge towards a unique new reality, fully absorbing the digital and founds itself based on this mixture.

In the perspective of re-signifying the digital toward a postdigital convergence, the project carries out research in the field of Brain–Computer Interfaces, mixing the boundaries that divide the organic from the digital, the physical from the virtual.

The co-presence between virtual and real, strongly supported by the capillary diffusion of the mobile revolution, opens up previously unimagined scenarios. The continuous growth of the IoT (Internet of Things) lets us now to interact directly with the elements of reality through different kind of digital interactions like, for instance, geo-localization and geo-tagging, the GPS, or even all those social media that implements an augmented reality system, allowing to enjoy the surrounding environment by receiving additional information at the same time as one experiences it.

The IoT envisions a close link between physical objects and virtual environments or objects: it allows the places and objects of the physical world to relate to the digital realm, even if they are located remotely from our physical body. The objects thus become sentient, expressing the typical human faculties or emotions within a postdigital dimension.

In this mixing of realms, the postdigital scenario consolidates the use of BCI in the IoT sphere. In the IoT dimension related to research: the organic world coincides with the human brain; the objects with the products made; the data with the parameters derived from the BCI; the web with the sharing and dissemination of the entire project.

The postdigital shift thus sees the growth of human relationships that transcend contact, electronic devices that amplify sensory perceptions, and wearable technologies that reveal emotional states [8]. In particular, the experimental phase of this research adopts the brainwaves of the individual as a starting point for processing singular objects in the field of advanced manufacturing.

In collaboration with neuroscientists, the first phase of research examined the clinical operation of an electroencephalography (EEG) system, recording electrical activity along the scalp by measuring the electrical fluctuations that accompany the neurotransmission data activity within the human brain.

This EEG system is exploited in BCIs, consisting of non-invasive brain-computer connections that can be implemented with different devices and data collection systems. A noninvasive BCI can be defined as a wearable device that allows a command without movement: a direct communication pathway between a human being (or animal) and an external element. Given its portability, relatively low cost, and high temporal resolution compared to other similar methods (MEG, fMRI, fNIRS), BCIs have also been widely used in heterogeneous contexts and by other disciplines, as in this specific research, in design.

In less than two decades, BCIs have evolved enormously in terms of performance and variety of uses: this growing interest has led to many applications, including medical and disability, gaming and entertainment, security, and authentication [9]. Undoubtedly, one of the most significant applications has been in the curative aspects of rehabilitation, as such systems allow objects or actions to be controlled remotely, without the need to move. The oscillation and permanence of a particular wave (for instance, Beta) can determine an action, a command in a game, a button, a movement, and a shape determination.

Just concerning the Emotiv EPOC device, for instance, in its first ten years, it has been used worldwide in multiple applications, identifying 382 relevant studies, from the control of robotic limbs and wheelchairs to user authentication in security systems identification of emotional states [10].

The research has examined four typologies of wearable devices incorporating electrodes: Emotive’s Epoc+ and Insight, Neurosky’s Mindwave, and the self-produced Open BCI (Figure 2). The analysis of the devices found that each device contains a different number of electrodes, typically from 2 to 14 sensors, and has advantages based on its lower or higher portability and data collection quality. In addition, each BCI follows its protocol of use, combined with specific data analysis software.

Figure 2. Study chart for the comparative analysis of the five waves and the 4 BCIs examined.

The most characterizing aspects of the technology implementation process concern the number of electrodes, user comfort, and stability of the electrical signal.

The detected frequency is measured in Hz and the amplitude in mV. These frequencies flow perpendicular to the scalp thanks to columnar clusters of cortical neurons oriented perpendicular to the surface of the cerebral cortex. The frequency and amplitude values measured thus make it possible to identify different wave rhythms: Alpha, Beta, Delta, Theta, and Gamma. The variations in these waves correlate specifically with physiological events (emotions, activity, concentration, sleep, sensory stimulation). The interpretation and analysis of an EEG trace are based on the study and encoding of the above parameters.

Concerning the four BCIs analyzed, the brain impulses detected reflect with greater precision the emotional states of relaxation (alpha waves) and tension (beta waves), and to a lesser extent, all the other waves, which, although parameterized, do not give a precise reading like the first two. In general, there are still problems regarding the accuracy of some of these devices, which cannot precisely decipher all the waves. Moreover, the parameters can vary a lot, changing the wearable BCI, and from person to person, so it is sometimes necessary to balance the interface before each registration session.

Differentiated according to the frequency of cycles per second and with different intensities of Hz (slow, intermediate, and rapid), brain waves are classified into five categories:

- alpha (α): 8–13 Hz. These are waves specific to the EEG, present mainly during relaxation and stillness with eyes closed. They correspond to an average amplitude of 30 microvolts. Alpha frequencies are easily recorded with the eyes closed in an awake subject, especially between the occipital and parietal electrodes. However, if the subject opens its eyes, the alpha activity disappears, replaced by a lower voltage and faster activity, called beta (desynchronization).

- beta (β): 14–30 Hz. They are small and fast waves, present mainly during mental processes of various types, such as moments of solid concentration, anxiety, or a state of alertness. They correspond to an average electrical voltage of 19 microvolts. Beta waves indicate high thought activity, primarily concentrated in the frontal and mid-parietal areas. These frequencies are dominant in an open-eyed subject engaged in specific brain activity, focusing attention, or engaging in a continuous effort.

- gamma (y): These are waves ranging from 30 to 42 hertz and an electrical voltage between 1 and 20 microvolts. They indicate a highly active cortex and characterize states of particular tension.

- delta (δ): < 4 Hz. These slower waves are recorded mainly during the non-REM sleep state (non-REM, no dreams). They correspond to an unconscious state and have an average electrical voltage of 150 microvolts.

- theta (θ): 4–7.5 Hz. These waves indicate a reduction in the level of vigilance. They correspond to a preconscious state and particular emotional states or mental processes. They have an average voltage of 75 microvolts.

Concerning the operative experimentations, this research illustrates two design applications – Alpha and Flows – which process the relationship between alpha and beta waves and their subsequent transfer into the objects.

3. The singularization of product design in the BCI processes

The paper examines the use of BCI in constructing design objects and analyzing some disruptive features that such devices can generate. By adopting a generative approach based on the parameters of the individual, data computation can be a creative tool for an original self-representation. The research seeks to relocate human beings from a passive and defensive position regarding data to an active and co-creative attitude. At the same time, we are data producers and consumers: in a co-evolution relationship, we generate data at the same rate that they shape, in-form, and modify our lives.

Gene-culture co-evolution studies show how humans undergo genetic changes with digital evolution. When digital culture is widespread, the relationship between human biology and knowledge is welded to new technologies in a trilateral symbiosis that, according to Telmo Pievani, should be defined as gene-technology co-evolution [11]. The underlying idea is that every new technology grows along a pathway and modifies social and productive structures according to a symbiotic coevolutionary relationship from the beginning to its maturity.

The alignment between technology and humanity leads to an ever-closer relationship between artificial and organic, synthetic and living. It is no coincidence that, as Bruce Sterling argues, “the future combination of cybernetics and biotechnology suggests a techno-society in which objects will be manufactured by biological means” [12].

“From electronic bits back to atoms”, to physical matter and the importance of our organicity, one of the future manufacturing design scenarios consists of total customization that adopts the individual as the starting and finishing point of the project.

Therefore, in the postdigital era, design no longer follows a logic of standard repetition, identical to itself, but a process of singularization that intrinsically links objects to people. In this dialectic, the massive use of digital processes and techniques involves a gradual transition from the manufacture of identical, standardized multiples – clearly exemplified by the previous industrial paradigm of the Fordist type – to the manufacture of singular objects, according to a renewed relationship between man and object of 1:1. The singularity principle expresses the natural and obvious result of a constructive dynamic that holds together unrepeatable criteria and parameters [13].

In parametric data design, the possibilities with which an object can differ while belonging to a principle of seriality are diverse. Among the most relevant research, generative biometric design can generate a different multiplicity of objects by adopting the body as formal parameters. Through 3d scanning and virtual mapping, it is possible to build unique objects that perfectly match the human anatomy. Experiments of this kind are already widespread in the biomedical field for the generation of customized prostheses in close relation to the aesthetic-anatomical needs of each person. However, more experimental approaches use sensitive information inside the body, such as iris morphology, heartbeat, neuronal frequencies, or breath [14]. These internal readings become bio-digital inputs for new production systems and return transformable outputs in shapes, colors, and emotions, all singular and unrepeatable.

In a conceived process, the individual is fully involved in the project until the final object production. Theorizing a new society of the individual [15], determined by obvious sociological, philosophical, and technological consequences, Francesca Rigotti states that “Such a society is not interested in what is standardized and regulated, but what is original and particular; it is not interested in mass production but what is specific and individual (…) Not a standard but excellence of services, products, events, services that are precisely personal, singular” [16].

Among the first projects investigating a dimension of design singularization through BCIs (Figure 3), we can mention Brain Wave Sofa by Luca Massen and Dries Verbruggen (Unfold Studio) in 2009. The project consists of a shaped 3d landscape sofa, in which the depth corresponds to the frequency of brain activity in Hertz, the height to the signal strength, and the length to the time duration. The brain waves, recorded using a neuro-feedback computer application, were then sent to a CNC milling machine that transferred them to a foam block, subsequently covered with felt and wood.

Figure 3. BCI and design case studies: object/production process comparison. 2009/2014.

In 2013, London Fieldworks (Bruce Gilchrist and Jo Joelson) engaged German artist Gustav Metzger for the Null Object project. The creative duo asked Metzger not to think about anything for twenty minutes. So, Metzger’s meditative activity creates the object’s shape using a Kuka industrial robot, digging inside a perfect 50 cm cube of Portland limestone.

In 2014, Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet collaborated with MTG researcher Sebastian Mealla to create Neuroknitting. The project uses obsolete knitting machines to apply open source technologies to customize unique and diversified products. The user wears a BCI with 14 channels that record data from brain activity during listening to Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The EEG data redesigns the different textures. The brain manufacturing project of Merel Brekking's is based instead on studying a group of 20 people on shape, colour and material, showing them different images and monitoring their brain activity with an MRI scanner. The result is a range of products based on people's brain preferences and the inputs to which they responded most positively.

These four case studies are just some of the first to incorporate BCIs into a design process production. Since then, numerous other experiments have taken place in an ongoing attempt to bring design, art and neuroscience and closer together [17]. However, beyond the scientific rigor achieving, the actual design challenge remains to give value and meaning to neuronal flows so that they can reveal significant expressions and perceptions of human feeling.

4. Results: Alpha and flows experimentations

In the following experimentations, the generative process derives from a mixture of BCI, 3d software, and digital technologies hybridized with some precious materials and high-craft construction techniques. From an operative point of view, software such as Rhinoceros (3d modeling) and Grasshopper (parametric modeling), together with other programming software (BCI bridge) and computer graphics, were used (Figure 4). The generative term is used to define an open system that can be declined concerning the singular human parameters that serve as input. In this case, the input is made up of brain waves, while the output configures unique and different objects marked by similar aesthetics and processes each time.

Figure 4. Illustration of the interactive process adopted in the two experiments Alpha and Flows.

In both projects, the data collected comes from the five brain waves (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) with a particular focus on two values called attention and meditation, obtained from levels of concentration and relaxation and measured through Hz. The studies result from an integrated collaboration between multiple actors, such as neuroscientists, programmers, and specialized artisans such as goldsmiths and ceramists. In addition to the paper’s authors, the research team benefited from the technological support of the Hub Officina Vanvitelli – an innovative center dedicated to research for design and fashion.

4.1. Alpha: printing in real time

Alpha experimentation proposes a capsule collection of large white vases whose shapes derive from the combination of 3d polymeric additive printing and the technique of columbine in ceramic material.

The columbine was invented in Mesopotamia in the 2nd century B.C. by potters before the lathe. The technique involves the circular movement of the hands constructing hollow shapes using a skinny clay cord that is rolled up on the circular spiral base. The shape to be made fell on the vessel because the original columbine technique favored it and because of its archetypal form, full of anthropological meanings. In the essay “Vases,” in Philosophy of Design, Vilém Flusser writes: “Vases are considered blank forms. And they are. It is not a question of reducing a complex theme to something as simple as a vase. On the contrary, it is a question of looking at pure form in phenomenological terms and seeing it as a vase. A vase (…) is an epistemological tool (concerning the theory of knowledge)” [18].

From the analysis of both construction processes, the digital printer behaves in the same way as the primitive technique but follows, unlike the hands, the mathematical algorithms imposed by the machine. By analogy – using an algorithm specially devised in collaboration with the Dutch programmer Frido Emans – the printer’s movement was reprogrammed naturally, minimizing any machine automatism. In this way, the extruder performs a fluid and enveloping path, directly taking the brain’s electrical frequency as input, composed of unique and unrepeatable neuronal signals (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Illustration of the circular algorithmic movement.

To process these data, it was used Emotiv’s Epoc BCI translated attention and relaxation activities into parameters corresponding to concentric spatial configurations with different radii. The data processing corresponds to the alpha waves values (8–13 Hz) and expresses the relaxation mood of the subject with the eyes closed. So, the 3d modeling of the vase fluently takes place, intending to make the artifact as a spokesperson for an immediate flow without mediation. In this sense, Alpha investigates the presence/absence binomial since the entire process does not focus on the physical object as on the relational and generative process, characterized by a solid intangible component.

Without any a posteriori modeling, the algorithm works in real-time and constructs the curves instantaneously using the brain activity parameters directly as points of the structure. The heights are directly proportional to the duration of the wave-reading session, and the values are always different for each individual, as is the electrical sequence that, in effect, sculpts the shape.

The vessels are composed of minimal superficial dissimilarities and are irreplicable since they are closely linked to the individual neuronal session of the person who generated them. They are an example of imperfect production, properly humans: conjunction between design culture and neuroscience (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Alpha vessels in 3d flexible polyamide and handcrafted porcelain.

4.2. Flows: materializing a meditative state

Flows project has a scientific dissemination function in the context of new postdigital scenarios on the borderline between jewelry design and BCI. The experimentation concerns a brain-3d printer interaction that materializes a person’s thoughts in a pin, where neuronal frequencies redesign the internal shape.

After initial experimentation in the laboratory, the project was tested in 2015 through the workshop Materialize your Dreams, organized with 50 participants, in collaboration with Futuro Remoto of Città Della Scienza and some neuroscientists belonging to the University of Campania. A piece of binaural music stimulated participants helping them in relaxing and increasing alpha waves. Each session lasted about ten minutes and aimed at recording the relaxation sequence and its highest peak (around the 8–10 Hz of alpha waves), which was then fixed and translated into an object to print. Due to its similarity to a digital cloud image, the visualized graph by Neurosky’s MindWave BCI software has determined the shape.

Mindwave’s software visually breaks down brain frequencies’ movement into a concentric, colored graph that displays them in real-time. The waves are decoded using expansion rays that vary as to their pulse increases or decreases: the values from 0 to 100 are directly proportional to the electrical signal strength at that precise moment and are always different in their temporal sequence, which gives rise to the virtual cloud.

According to this transference, the visualization of a specific flow of waves configures a matrix of defined points in space, determining a bidimensional shape. The alpha wave’s highest peak is then recorded and modeled in 3d an instant later. Flows represent temporal sequences whose space and time dimensions become part of the object through the evolution of the waves and the degree of relaxation each individual achieves. Connectivity, interactivity, and the meditative state define these unusual shapes.

Among the 50 brainwave recordings, the workshop’s outcome has concerned the manufacturing of three brooches associated with three participants. The jewels, made of gold and transparent resin, were constructed through hybridizing goldsmithing techniques, BCI interfaces, and 3d printing. Each brooch is a singular object generated by the meditative alpha peak of a single individual (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Flows brooches in gold plated silver and resin. Process illustration, 2015/2019.

From 2017 to 2019, the scientific committee of Città Della Scienza in Naples has selected the Flows project for an exhibition at Museo Corporea, the first interactive museum in Europe entirely dedicated to the theme of the body, biomedical science, and technology, based on direct experimentation of phenomena by visitors.

5. Conclusions

The research activity has illustrated the different phases of a postdigital process in speculative and technological terms, trying to define a new production model hybridized with BCI. The connection between neuroscience and design, the exponentiality of digital technologies, and the transdisciplinary approach are just some reasons that cause the increase of these kinds of processes.

The design experimentations described in the last part of the essay concern the issue of BCIs, both from a design perspective and a critical reflection on technology.

Highlighting the potential of these applications, the research investigated the specific following objectives:

• the adoption of a postdigital and transdisciplinary design culture;

• the hybridization between BCI and different manufacturing technologies;

• the effective possibility of including neuroscience in manufacturing processes;

• the public awareness of neuroscience potential through the perception of their brainwaves.

Through workshops and exhibitions, the research has involved focus groups of citizens for a deeper awareness of their brain waves from a communication and dissemination perspective. Parametrizing the singular brain waves of participants, the artifacts created are oriented to the public’s involvement in the direct experimentations, toward the generation of further reflections.

The ultimate aim of the research was to reinterpret brain waves in both a critical and scientific way, creating design objects intended as connective artifacts capable of amplifying individual states of perception. On the boundary between a theoretical elaboration and a practical study, the processes presented in the paper unfold into a new hybrid manufacturing scenario and act as triggers for an open dialogue between design and neuroscience.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research is part of a broader project named PostDigital Manufacturing Processes, funded by Programma Valere 2020 sponsored by University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”.

Notes on contributors

Patrizia Ranzo

Patrizia Ranzo, architect and designer, is a full professor of Industrial Design at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli.” She is President of the Board of Studies in Design for Innovation and, at the same University, she was Coordinator of the Doctorate in Industrial, Environmental, and Urban Design from 2000 to 2008, and President of the aggregate courses in Industrial Design from 2004 to 2013. She coordinates the research laboratories “Ideas for Peace” for international cooperation and “FA.RE. Fashion Research” for innovation in fashion. She is the scientific director of numerous research projects and editor of the “Culture del Design” series for Franco Angeli and “Indesign” for Alinea.

Chiara Scarpitti

Chiara Scarpitti, designer and Ph.D. in Design for Innovation, is an Assistant Professor in Design at the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. From 2015 to 2019, she taught at IED – European Institute of Design in Milan and Tarì Design School in Marcianise. From 2016 to 2021, she taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. Author of several scientific design essays, her theoretical and design researches are focused on speculative hybridization between digital technologies and high manufacturers related to Made in Italy and contemporary design.