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An electron microscope, an acoustic laboratory, and more than forty material samples at the Keep in Touch exhibition show that furniture and interior design goes far beyond form and function. Research lies at the heart of the exhibition. Rather than starting with a specific product, students at Sutnarka began by investigating the material itself: its structure, transformations, durability, surface, and sound-absorbing properties. They worked with researchers from the university’s RICE (Research and Innovation Center for Electrical Engineering) and NTC (New Technologies Research Center). Only then, based on what they had learned about each material, did they look for suitable applications. In an interview for INFO.zcu, Jana Potiron, curator of the exhibition and head of the Furniture and Interior Design Studio at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, University of West Bohemia, discusses the new exhibition, material testing, and sustainability.

The Keep in Touch exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of the Furniture and Interior Design Studio. Why did you choose to focus specifically on materials?
Alternative materials have long been characteristic of the way we work in the studio. We are interested in experimenting with raw materials, recycling, upcycling, and new ways of working with conventional materials. The students, therefore, created more than fifty material discs. They then used the most promising ones to design specific products. The exhibition brings together material samples, research results, and finished products. Visitors will not only be able to look at them, but also to touch them.

In the exhibition text, you use the term tangible thinking, meaning design based on direct experience with a material. What does this mean in practice?
When designing furniture or interiors, we quickly begin to address function, ergonomics, strength, and construction. That is, of course, necessary, but it also means that we tend to rule out many raw materials from the outset. This time, we therefore began with the material itself. The material discs created by the students were not intended to serve any specific function. During the research, we observed how each material behaved, whether it shrank as it dried, what kind of structure it had, how durable it was, and how it felt to the touch. Only then did the students consider what it might be used for. Direct contact with the material allowed us to discover properties we would never have noticed if we had started with a predefined product.

How is a new material like this created?
First, you need a raw material and a way to bind or shape it. Some mixtures were air-dried, while others were baked, pressed, or fired. Each process presented different challenges: the material changed volume, cracked, or required a differently sized mould to achieve the desired diameter once dry. The resulting materials varied widely. One student germinated wheat, allowing its root system to form the disc, which she then dried. Another sample was made from the support structure that a 3D printer normally creates beneath a printed object and removes once printing is complete. In this case, that “scaffolding” became the final sample. Another project used standard MDF board: the student cut and steamed it, transforming a flat sheet into a three-dimensional object. So the process did not always involve creating a new mixture. Sometimes it was about finding a new way to work with a material we already knew.

One of the criteria you set was the material’s ability to absorb sound. What did the laboratory testing reveal?
We expected soft, porous, and thicker materials to have good sound-absorbing properties. But that turned out not to be the case for several samples. That is precisely why it was important not to rely on assumptions alone. At the RICE laboratory, we measured how effectively the materials actually absorbed sound, while at NTC, we used an electron microscope to examine their internal structure. For the students, it was a valuable lesson that a design hypothesis needs to be tested, and that materials that look similar can have very different properties.

Did you also work with materials that ultimately proved unsuitable?
Yes. One of the requirements was that the samples should remain stable and not degrade too quickly, and not all of them met that condition. A disc made from bread dried out and fell apart, while pantry moths attacked a material made from honeycomb. Materials derived from food, in particular, showed that durability can be a problem. But that, too, is an important finding. A material may be visually appealing and pleasant to the touch, but if it cannot withstand the conditions in which it is meant to be used, it cannot be put into practice without further development.

The samples are to be added to the studio’s material library. What is the purpose of such a collection?
It grew out of a very practical need. In teaching, I wanted to show students real samples of colors, surfaces, and sheet materials rather than just photographs. Over time, the collection expanded to include wood, plastics, metals, glass, concrete, ceramics, textiles, and acoustic materials. Alongside industrially produced samples, it also contains experimental materials created by students. We have gradually changed the way we add to the library as well. It is not enough for a material to be unusual or marketed as environmentally friendly. If it is produced on the other side of the world, students cannot afford to order it. We therefore focus primarily on materials from the Czech Republic and neighboring countries. Students need to know where they can obtain them, how much they cost, and what their specific properties are. A physical sample is therefore not just a source of inspiration, but a practical working tool.

New and recycled materials are often automatically associated with sustainability. Is that connection justified?
Not always. Many new materials use waste, which is positive, but at the same time, they are composites whose individual components can no longer be separated. Waste is therefore turned into a material that represents its final cycle. At the end of its useful life, incineration or landfill is often the only option left. So it is not enough to say that something is recycled. We need to ask what we need the material for, how long it should last, where it comes from, whether it is readily available, and what will happen to it at the end of its life. For a product intended for short-term use, it can be an advantage if it decomposes quickly and safely. With a house or a piece of furniture, by contrast, we often need a long lifespan. Sustainability, therefore, has to be assessed in relation to the specific purpose and the entire life cycle. It is most commonly understood as environmental responsibility, but that is only one of its pillars. For a product to be truly sustainable, it must also meet the requirements of social and economic responsibility.

What responsibility does the designer have in this process?
Even before choosing a material, designers should ask whether the product is needed at all. We cannot solve the problem of excess waste by thoughtlessly turning it into more unnecessary objects. Using waste as a material only makes sense if it results in a product with a clear purpose and an appropriate lifespan. At the same time, not every student project has to offer an immediately production-ready solution. Design can also serve a critical or speculative role: it can draw attention to a problem, challenge established patterns of consumption, and open up discussion. That, too, is part of its social role. What matters is that students can explain why an object is being created and what its form or material is intended to convey.

The studio is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Where would you like to take it over the next decade?
We want to develop themes related to human-centred design and social issues more systematically. Collaboration with companies is important for students because it gives them experience in professional practice. At the same time, we need to strengthen projects involving communities, non-profit organisations and sheltered workshops, and think more carefully about who design can genuinely help. Material research and collaboration across the university are equally important to us. Interior design has always drawn on knowledge from architecture, ergonomics, psychology, materials science, technology, lighting and colour. In the coming years, we would like to develop these areas more focused. Simply designing trend-driven interiors is no longer enough – digital tools and artificial intelligence may gradually take over some of that work. The designer’s role will therefore increasingly be to seek a deeper purpose in the design process and to answer more precisely who and what design should serve in the future.