Master in Design through New Materials

The MA in Design through New Materials focuses on innovation, sustainable design and creativity through new materials. An experimental and transdisciplinary course that values a regenerative vision and bio-based material design as a ground-breaking working field.

How to apply
Welcome

Everything that surrounds us is materials. They are at the center of innovation, and are part of the first decision we make when producing a design. Sustainable materials generate an impact that influences the industry, society and even cultural values. Innovation based on materials allows us to develop new initiatives, find more sustainable solutions and launch more creative design processes. This master’s degree will allow you to create new opportunities through the design of sustainable materials and define how to build a future for the well-being of the planet.

Our goal is to create a new generation of transdisciplinary specialists in materials design, such as materials for sustainable interior design and materials for sustainable textiles, products and furniture.

Access and Admission Requirements: Official university degree or equivalent in design, engineering, architecture or art.

Do you want to know the rest of Elisava’s master and postgraduate programmes? Find the design master you are looking for.

master-design-new-materials-lost-objects-1 Lost Objects. Workshop with Luis Eslava at the Ateneu de Fabricació de Gràcia
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master-design-new-materials-projecte-tous-1 Material Driven Design Studio. Workshop with Luis Elsava and TOUS
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master-design-new-materials-degree-show-2023-1 Materials Grad Show
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Study design through new materials in Barcelona

If you are thinking about studying design, but you are still not sure about which school or city to choose, you should know that Barcelona is one of the best destinations of you want to become specialised in design and innovation of materials.

Barcelona is the cradle of design and an international referent. Attracted by the latest trends and the complete ecosystem that is developed in the city, designers and creatives around the world have stablished their place of business here. The valuable legacy that great artists left behind contrasts with the trace of new creators and designers, thus creating unique synergies. Creativity, transversality and the open spirit can be breathed in every corner of the city.

Why study a MA in design of new materials?

Studying a design master, with the particularity of being focused on design through new materials, gives the student an interdisciplinary and conciliatory vision. The designer specialised in this field observes, studies and develops design form a unique point of view.

The innovation of materials is becoming more important in a changing sector that finds itself in the permanent quest of new realities. There is no doubt that new materials define the way reality is built. Thus, it is a profession with a clear vision of present and future.

Through our master in design through new materials, students will acquire the necessary tools to become designers and creators that the sector requires. Upon finishing the training experience, and because of its theoretical basis and the practice in real projects, students will be prepared to successfully face any challenge.
Values

We expand sustainable materials

The Master in Design through New Materials is structured so that you acquire, develop and exercise specific skills and competencies. These skills cumulatively encompass the set of skills necessary to efficiently design, develop, optimize and communicate a project in terms of materials-driven innovation, sustainable design solutions and production based on biomanufacturing, digitalization and craft processes.

We want you to:

  • Be able to analyse future socio-cultural scenarios and contextualise new materials in a global context.
  • Be able to select and apply materials, technologies and manufacturing processes in design and the specific nature of the development processes.
  • Acquire the skills for the ideation of applications of new materials.
  • Be able to evaluate sustainability aspects and environmental impact of materials for industry application.
  • Be able to experiment with new materials and related technologies to produce new material applications, new material developments or new material languages.
  • Be able to generate families of colour and trim and materials languages applied to brand and market placement.
  • Be able to generate a sound narrative and strategy to position a material within the market or sector successfully.
  • Be able to recognise the potential of new business models associated with the materials and related technologies being generated.
How we do it

This MA in Design through New Materials wants to provide you with the practical tools to bring your ideas to life. Combining a theoretical and practical approach, with a constant encouragement of investigation and analysis, our goals are:

  • Training professionals on new creative ways of making and communicating.
  • Preparing professionals for the new opportunities arising from the consolidation of materials and related technologies as innovation boosters.
  • Training professionals in developing projects with social, environmental and technological concerns.

We will help you create a Final Master Project —on an entrepreneurial basis or for an industrial partner— that results in a new material, a new product collection, or a new architectural project focusing on sustainability, innovation, creativity and near-future inspired solutions.

master-design-new-materials-workshop-beneditk-peiroten-1 Responsibility through Material Design. Workshop with Benedikt Peirotén (Studio PeiPei)
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master-design-new-materials-workshop-laboratium-1 Workshop Colour Activism with Heleen Sintobin and Camille Wouterson (Laboratorium)
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master-design-new-materials-workshop-sustainability-1 Workshop Sustainability & Materials & Biology with Maria Boto
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MA in Design through New Materials programme

1 Material Cultures

Research socio-cultural aspects of materials with a critical and alternative experimental approach. Construct narratives of past, present and future scenarios.

 2 Material Fundamentals

Understanding materials structure and classification. Materials properties and characterization tests. Scientific and creative view on properties and manufacturing processes.

 3 Digital Materiality

Learn and debate the implications of AI as a concpetualization tool. Delve deeper into possibilites of generative design and auxetic structures. Experimentation and testing of various AM materials and technologies.

 4 Material Innovations

Identify socio-cultural drivers and emerging macro cultural trends. Communicate verbally and visually the research, insights and a material palette. Innovation talks and challenges. Understand how to design and create coherent business models.

 5 Material Driven Design Studio

Workshop exploring bio-based materials, sustainable fabrication techniques and sensory attributes. Objectifying function through matter.

 6 Sustainability & Materials

Sustainability, circular economy, critical and systemic thinking. Environmental impacts and LCA for more sustainable processes and material selection. Workshop with bacterial cellulose, biomineralization (MICP), mycelium and upcycling of material waste.

 7 Material Languages

Understand how the CMF industry works and the role of CMF designer. Look into the trends of colour and materials. Visual languages and narratives, conceptual positioning and photography of the final project.

 8 Strategies for Materials

Communicate the value proposition of the final project. Guide storytelling and positioning strategy. Highlight the materiality of each final project at an expository, visual and oral level.

 9 Final Project

The project will develop a materials-derived product and/or strategy focusing on innovation, creativity and sustainability. Personalized mentoring sessions during the final project development.
If you want to know more about the Master in Design through New Materials download the brochure here:
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Do you want to know more about the Masters’ School?

Each academic year, students with very diverse professional and cultural profiles of more than 80 nationalities from all over the world attend their master’s or postgraduate training at Elisava. We want to promote connections and networks among students beyond the context of each master’s degree to promote the exchange of knowledge through very diverse projects: we organize interdisciplinary workshops and conferences; transdisciplinary projects with students from several master’s degrees; collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs…

Interdisciplinary workshops Collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs Elisava Masters’ Talks and lectures Elisava Alumni
master-design-new-materials-stool-vase-1 Stool-Vase. Workshop with Luis Eslava
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master-design-new-materials-degree-show-2022-4 Materials Grad Show
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master-design-new-materials-takk-3 Elisava Fall Pavilion. Workshop con TAKK
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master-design-new-materials-degree-show-2022-4 New European Bauhaus Collection. Workshop en el Ateneu de Fabricació de Gràcia
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Masters’ Scholarships

Do you want to study the MA in Illustration and Comics at Elisava? In this section you will be able to check all the information on the annual call for scholarships, which recognize, reward and disseminate the talent and excellence of future master’s students.

Elisava Masters’ Scholarships