Black Dog Publishing’s Material Matters: New Materials in Design

When talking to a designer, one of our favorite things to hear is how a particular project offered the opportunity to use one odd material for which said designer had long sought an appropriate venue. Of course as technology allows ever more polymers and composites to be developed, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of the plethora of such materials available. And while our sister company

Material Connexion

offers a spectacularly thorough library of samples, we loved flipping through Black Dog Publishing’s


Material Matters: New Materials in Design


.

Authors Philip Howes and Zoe Laughlin offer a curated review of new chemical products, including Deflexion, a fabric that instantly transforms from malleable to stiff, and Graphene, a incomprehensibly thin material that is 200 times stronger than structural steel. Manufacturer information, physical properties, and potential applications make this a handy guide for everyone’s inner materials geek.