1. Please introduce yourself, your role in the DRS and your research.
Trained as an industrial designer in Thailand and a textile artist/designer with a doctorate from Aalto University in Finland, I am Professor of Material Art and Design in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada.
I was an elected DRS Council Member from 2013 to 2019 and have been the convenor of the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG) since 2013, presently co-convening it with Dr. Camilla Groth from the University of South-Eastern Norway. At present, I keep and manage the full archive of EKSIG conferences and publications on the EKSIG website.
My research lies in craft as a way of thinking through material and how it can be incorporated into practice-led design research as a method as well as the role of experiential knowledge cultivated in the designer’s professional practice in the conduct of academic design research.
2. Could you please give an introduction to your SIG, any recent events/outcomes and any upcoming events you’d like to share?
Established in 2007, EKSIG was the first Special Interest Group of the DRS. The main aims of EKSIG are:
1. To investigate and advance the understanding of “knowledge” and “contribution to knowledge” in design research, especially in areas where designing forms part of the research process.
2. To develop principles and criteria of research in design for employing different kinds of knowledge and means for the communication of knowledge.
3. To promote the implementation of such principles and criteria within current research policy to promote quality and standards in research.
4. To promote the implementation of such principles and criteria within research practice through the development of appropriate methodology to promote quality and best practice in research.
EKSIG has convened its own biennial conference series since 2009 and in every alternate year a paper strand/theme track at the biennial DRS conference. The research outcomes from each EKSIG conference usually consist of two publications: a volume of conference proceedings and a post-conference publication in the form of a journal special issue or an edited book.
The most recent EKSIG conference was EKSIG 2023 From Abstractness to Concreteness – experiential knowledge and the role of prototypes in design research hosted by the Politecnico di Milano in Italy; its proceedings are published online. I am currently working with colleagues at the Politecnico on an edited book as the EKSIG 2023’s post-conference publication.
EKSIG 2025 will be soon in Budapest, Hungary, from 13–15 May at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) under the theme “Data as Experiential Knowledge and Embodied Processes”. I am looking forward to meeting old and new DRS members there.
In the most recent DRS conference—DRS 2024 Boston—EKSIG organized the Making in the Digital Era theme track.
In addition, the most recent published outcome was a book entitled Craft and Design Practice from an Embodied Perspective edited by me and Camilla and published (as hardback and digitally with Open Access) by Routledge in July 2024.
3. What are some of the benefits of being involved in the DRS through a SIG? How can those who are interested in becoming part of your SIG learn more?
Based on my 20-year experience as a practitioner-researcher, I can see firsthand that it is not easy for a practising designer to make a shift and land smoothly in academia when they have a desire for academic research. Having a research community of like-minded practitioner-researchers whom you can share and discuss your passion and interest in a research area inherent in your professional practice can be extremely supportive. With such a community, you can feel less isolated when developing your research at an early stage of your research career. During later stages as a design researcher, you usually need a platform to present and publish your research outputs, the DRS conference and SIG conference series are well established to support such dissemination and provide spaces for developing ideas for future research. These are obvious benefits, among many others, of being involved in the DRS, especially through a SIG.
EKSIG is for researchers who are practising designers and/or interested in addressing issues in and through professional design practice, aiming to gain an understanding of “knowledge” obtained and accumulated through experiences in areas where designing and making forms part of the research process.
For those who are interested in becoming part of EKSIG, you can first learn more about it from the EKSIG website and then become part of EKSIG by:
· Subscribing to the discussion forum on the DRS website https://www.designresearchsociety.org/cpages/experiential-knowledge-sig.
· Emailing me at nnimkulrat@ocadu.ca; I will add you to the mailing list for news and announcements related to EKSIG activities.
· Submitting a paper to and/or participate in the EKSIG theme track in the DRS conference series.
· Submitting a paper to and/or participate in the EKSIG conference series.