DOCTORAL THESIS IN HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2017 Making Preciousness Interaction Design through Studio Crafts VASILIKI TSAKNAKI KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND COMMUNICATION 1 Making Preciousness: Interaction Design Through Studio Crafts VASILIKI TSAKNAKI Doctoral Thesis no.26, 2017 KTH Royal Institute of Technology Computer Science and Communication Media Technology and Interaction Design SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden TRITA-CSC-A-2017:26. ISSN-1653-5723 ISRN-KTH/CSC/A—17/26-SE ISBN 978-91-7729-630-0 Abstract This dissertation explores value-creation in interaction design through practical collaborations with studio craftspersons. A focus is on the meaning of “preciousness” from a design perspective – what I refer to as Making Preciousness – which highlights aspects of material properties, design processes, and the attitude to the design space. Theoretically, the work takes inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi, which is based on the fact that things are impermanent, incomplete, and imperfect. This reflects a view of preciousness beyond notions of practical use, luxury or monetary cost. In addition to theoretical studies, I engaged in practice-based research at the intersection of interaction design and studio crafts, in the domains of leather, silversmith and tex- tile crafting. Through an approach that blends these practices with the making of interactive artefacts, preciousness for interaction design was explored. Through this work, I extract three qualities, all of which are closely linked to attributes and values embedded​​ in the craft practices exam- ined. I refer to these as resourceful composition, material sensuality and the aiming for mattering artefacts. Resourceful composition refers to approaching a design space “resourcefully”, meaning that the design- er actively values and uses the specific qualities of materials and tools consciously, for what they are suitable for. Material sensuality is about appreciating the sensory experience of interacting with materials, arriv- ing through particular material qualities, such as texture, temperature or smell, but also interactive qualities. Aiming for mattering artefacts involves actively designing for impermanence, incompleteness and imperfection, and through that contributing to notions of preciousness through use, care, ownership and interaction between users and arte- facts over time. The attitude of making preciousness can be seen as tying together materials and making with user experiences of computational artefacts. For interaction design, this points towards making processes in which computation and material knowledge, craftsmanship and aesthetic in- tentions are placed at the core. These values relate​​ to cultural, but also sensual experiences, which can be seen as under-explored in the design of interactive products. An increased focus on preciousness also high- lights values which,​​ in the long term, can lead to more varied, culturally grounded, and sustainable designs. Keywords: Interaction design, materials, making preciousness, studio crafts, resourceful composition, material sensuality, mattering artefacts, impermanence, incompleteness, imperfection Sammanfattning Denna avhandling utforskar värdeskapande i interaktionsdesign genom praktiska studier och samarbeten med professionellt konsthantverk. Mer specifikt studeras vad som menas med att något är “värdefullt” ur ett görandeperspektiv, exempelvis genom materialets egenskaper, den konkreta skapandeprocessen, och genom designerns attityd till det som designas. Teoretiskt har jag utgått från den traditionella japanska filosofin Wabi-Sabi, som genom sin utgångspunkt i att allt i världen är förgängligt, bristfälligt och ofullständigt, bidrar till en vidgad förståelse för värdefullhet inom design och konsthantverk, men även inom in- teraktionsdesign. Förutom teoretiska studier har jag samarbetat med specialister inom tre samtida studiobaserade hantverkspraktiker: läder-, silversmide- och textilhantverk. Genom en ansats som blandar dessa praktiker med interaktivt skapande utforskas nya sätt att förstå och förhålla sig till interaktionsdesign. Genom mina empiriska studier har jag ringat in tre egenskaper som alla är tätt kopplade till attribut och värderingar i de hantverkspraktiker jag arbetat med. Jag hänvisar till dessa som resursmedveten sam- mansättning, materialsensualitet och strävan efter betydelsebärande artefakter. Resursmedveten sammansättning (resourceful composition) handlar om att designern aktivt värdesätter, hushåller och utnyttjar material och verktygs specifika kvaliteter, samt använder dem medvetet till det som de lämpas för. Materialsensualitet handlar om att värdesät- ta den sinnliga upplevelsen av det som designas. Detta innefattar inte bara den fysiska formen, utan även andra materiella egenskaper som t ex textur, tyngd och doft, samt även dess interaktiva egenskaper. En strävan efter betydelsebärande artefakter tar hänsyn till att värde kan växa och omformas över tid, genom användning och i samspel med an- dra. Översatt till interaktionsdesign handlar det om att formge interak- tiva artefakter där medie- och materialkännedom, hantverkskunnande och estetiska intentioner står i centrum. Dessa värden anknyter till kul- turella och sociala, men även rent sensoriska upplevelser, vilka alla kan ses som underutnyttjade kvaliteter i studiet av interaktiva produkter. Ett ökat fokus på värdefullhet lyfter också fram värden som på sikt kan leda till mer varierad, kulturellt relevant och hållbar design. Acknowledgments To complete a PhD is a very long journey. For me it was a five-year jour- ney, during which many different people have supported and helped me, and here, I want to take the chance and thank most of them. Be- fore I start doing so, I would like to mention that it is very hard for me to write the acknowledgements for this dissertation. On the one hand, because it is hard for me to express in words what I feel, and how much I appreciate all the support and warmth I received during this journey. On the other hand, there is always the fear of forgetting someone- so, if you feel that you deserved to be mentioned here and you are not, I totally apologize. First and foremost I would like to thank my main supervisor Ylva Fer- naeus, who, apart from being a supervisor, was also a friend with whom I shared many good moments throughout these years. Ylva has been a great inspiration and influence for me, and I feel very grateful for having the chance to be her PhD student. I learned a lot from her, both on a personal and academic level. I would also like to thank Martin Jonsson, Anna Vallgårda and Anna Ståhl, who served as my co-supervisors, at different times, and contributed with their knowledge and experience in giving form and shape to my PhD dissertation. Additionally, I owe special thanks to Kristina ‘Kia’ Höök. Even though Kia has never been one of my “official” supervisors, she has always been supportive and present to help me, especially in taking care of all the admin things- and they were many!- during the last year of my PhD studies, when Ylva was on ma- ternity leave. Without Kia it would not have been possible for me to go through the last tough months of finishing my PhD. During my PhD studies I have been also part of the amazing Mobile Life Centre gang. This was a great experience for me and contributed a lot to how my research topic evolved over time, in addition to me slowly becoming a researcher. I would like to thank all the people, who have been at Mobile Life, at different times and for different reasons, and made it a special place for me: Johanna Mercurio, Moira McGregor, Mattias Jacobsson, Donny McMillan, Airi Lampinen, Asreen Rostami, Maria Holm, Antoine Loriette, Elsa Vaara, Jarmo Laaksolahti, Petra Sund- ström, Jakob Tholander, Elena Marquez, Barry Brown, Mareike Glöss, Sophie Landwehr, Oskar Juhlin, Jinyi Wang, Celia Zhang, Fredrik Aspling, Arvid Engström, Stina Nylander, Mudassir Ahmad, Martin Murer, Anni- ka Waern, Ilias Bergström, Jon Back, Janin Koch, and many more. But I would also like to thank all the Mobile Life partners and visiting re- searchers, who have contributed with valuable feedback and comments on my research process throughout the years. Apart from the Mobile Life Centre, I have also been sitting at the Interaction Design Jungle research office, at KTH. The people I want to thank especially from KTH are: Karey Helms, Madelene Balaam, Rebekah Cupitt, Hanna Hasselqvist, Vegas Simbelis, Pavel Karpashevich, Charles Windlin, Filip Kis, Rob Comber, Anders Lundström, Tina Bin Zhu, Jonas Forsslund, Roberto Bresin, Emma Frid. I would also like to thank Ann Lantz and Henrik Artman for being helpful regarding issues related to our department, and PhD education at KTH. I would also like to thank Cristian Bogdan for the advance (internal) review of this dissertation. I also want to thank Laurens Boer and Anna Vallgårda for making the time I spent at IT University of Copenhagen, as a visiting PhD scholar, a great and very inspiring experience. Additionally I want to thank the people at HyperWerk Institute for Post Industrial Design in Basel, in Switzerland, because the first interaction crafting study included in my dissertation was initiated there. I want to thank especially the leather craftsman Isla Bayer, who was involved in the study, but also Mischa Schaub and Rasso Auberger. Some people, beyond being colleagues, were also valuable friends to me, and I want to say special thanks to