Creation of artifacts as a vehicle for design research

Although material artifacts, with their forms and meanings, have manifested the significance of craft design practice, their role and the role of their creative productions in design research have rarely been discussed. This paper aims to uncover how the creation of artifacts can serve as a vehicle of design research. My doctoral research, which explores the relationship between a physical material and artistic expression in the creation of textile art and design, is given as the example. The research emphasizes the utilization of the researcher’s design artifacts and their productions as a vehicle of theoretical inquiry. The study offers the conception of materialness, which is the potential of a physical material to express meanings through its physicality to the designer and audience.