On Tuesday, April 18th we went on a trip to Material Connexions to look at different types of materials that are currently being manufactured. There seemed to be hundreds of materials on view but the ones that caught my attention were ones of paper, food, and fabric.

This is a piece of paper which has the durability of plastic. From the short given description this paper can is resistant to water, tearing, repeated handling, grease, and many different chemicals. I found this extremely interesting because I love paper supplies and such. I think it’s fantastic that this is a synthetic material and it even feels really cool. Just once I’d like to write for a magazine or have my own and if I get that opportunity then I would definitely choose to look into this product for it’s durability. Another way I would definitely use this sort of paper in the future is if I make photo prints. I wouldn’t want my work to be teared up or stained so this would be the best thing to use.

The second material I found extremely interesting was this filament that looks, feels, and has the same acoustic properties as wood. They’ve turned it into a material you can 3D print with and they’ve designed it to be less fragile than other filaments. This caught my immediate attention because this is a much more sustainable option to actual wood. With the same look and feel as wood, you can replace so many different daily objects that require tree wood. The shell like figure was beautifully 3D printed and from a distance I even thought it was wood. I am very interested in this because it can save our trees and I can also create many different objects and supplies using this material. Literally anything.

The last material I found was this washable fabric which was integrated with LED lights to illuminate clothing and accessories. I loved this because it was such a beautiful product. This is definitely more of a “want” rather than a “need”. You could use this for apparel or even interior design which I thought was fascinating. I was drawn to this because I love seeing lights incorporated into fashion or even accessories. I feel as though it adds something delicate to the piece. I would love to design a dress someday or work with someone on it and I know I would definitely incorporate lights into it. So the fact that this is washable makes me drawn to use this material rather than something else.