Schedule of Programs:

Philosophical Perspectives on Form in Design
Center for Design
9 – 11 AM

Register to attend in person. | Register to attend virtually.

Keynote with Gioia Laura Iannilli, Nathan Felde and Simon Treille.

This event juxtaposes multiple philosophical perspectives to set the stage for discussion and conversation on the nature of form. While “form (ever) follows function” was advocated as the single law* by the American architect Louis Sullivan, and has been a dominate dictum of modern design. Another expression, devised by the philosopher G. Spencer-Brown and published as “The Laws of Form” was hailed as a new calculus by Bertrand Russell.

Professor Iannilli, a Philosopher of Aesthetics at the University of Bologna will bring these abstract yet fundamental laws to ground in her talk on aesthetics in everyday life.

Philosophical aesthetics has only recently recognized design as an aesthetically relevant phenomenon and therefore worthy of analysis. This shift is due to a growing awareness on the part of the discipline that, in general terms, is linked to an urgency to focus on the concrete, operative, practical and material dimensions of experience understood in its sensible, perceptual, and expressive (i.e., aesthetic) bearing.

More specifically, this awareness concerns a) the acknowledgement that aesthetics runs on a spectrum spanning artistic and extra-artistic aspects; b) the fact that while being a theory, it fundamentally relies on practices in which it is rooted and which constitute its test-bed; c) an increasingly anti-dualistic approach to phenomena which aims to overcome dichotomies such as theory-practice; passivity-activity; mind-body; organism-environment; beauty-usefulness; nature-artifice; extraordinariness-ordinariness; form-function, to name a few.

In this framework design, meant as a crucial conceptual device, proved itself capable of affording a discipline such as philosophical aesthetics the opportunity to radically reconsider and renew itself in the light of a pervasive and complex phenomenon which concretely affects everyday life; but can philosophical aesthetics be equally fruitful for design practice? In this presentation I will offer a possible model for an aesthetics of design relying on contributions spanning pragmatist and everyday aesthetics.

SPECIAL GUEST: Mathematician Simon Treille will be joining us to introduce “Laws of Form” by G. Spencer Brown and the work of the topologist Lou Kauffman into our philosophical discourse.

“It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law.” – Louis Sullivan

Living Textiles Workshop
Center for Design
12 – 1:30 PM

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In collaboration with the BioInteractive Design Lab.
Workshop led by Katia Zolotovsky, Ganit Goldstein and Avantika Velho, with support from students Sebastian Gonzalez Quintero, Bryn Grespan, Peter Loughlin, Katherine McDonnell and Varenya Sethumadhavan.

Join us to learn and experience the world of interactive textiles. How can textiles be responsive to their environment? Can textiles be tangible data interfaces, communicating information about pollution, biomarkers and harmful chemicals through visible and tangible changes like odorants and colors? Can textiles be living and hosting skin biomes or even new probiotic communities of engineered microbes? This session will include the newest Biosensing Textiles project data from Northeastern’s BioInteractive Design Lab, as well as a guest presentation from Ganit Goldstein, MIT researcher and textile designer. Explore interactive activities with textile samples and fabricate your own living textile to take home.

Beyond the Logo Branding Redesign Competition Awards Ceremony
Center for Design
2 – 4 PM

Registration is not required.

In collaboration with CAMD Co-op. Sponsored by Slay Technology.

Over the past nine weeks, student teams have been working with local businesses and non-profits to redesign their brand, create a new website, and come up with a strategic communications plan. During the awards ceremony, each team will present their work to their peers and business partners, and a panel of alumni and faculty judges will be awarding prizes to the top three teams for their work. We invite you to come celebrate the work of these emerging designers and learn more about the local businesses they have been partnering with.

Artist & Curator in Conversation: Textiles and Technology in “Cat Mazza: Network”
Center for Design
4 – 5:30 PM

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In collaboration with the Center for the Arts, Gallery 360, Amy Halliday and Cat Mazza.

From knitted video animations to participatory pandemic stitching, join Gallery 360 guest curator Amy Halliday and exhibiting artist Cat Mazza for a discussion about textiles, technology, and “finding form” for historical research in her practice.

“Cat Mazza: Network” Reception and Gallery Visit
Gallery 360
5:30 – 7 PM

Registration is not required.

Following the artist and curator conversation, enjoy a reception and an opportunity to view “Cat Mazza: Network” in Gallery 360.

Click on each day to view more details:

Design Research Week 2025 Overview

Monday, March 17 – Health + Wellness

Tuesday, March 18 – Creativity + Play

Wednesday, March 19 – Community + Civic Futures

Thursday, March 20 – Data + AI

This is Friday, March 21 – Form + Materials

Saturday, March 22 – Graphic Voices of Latin America Exhibition

Sunday, March 23 – Interventions: Shift