Interview with Margherita Soldati: tactility, health and material waste

Unbore is delighted to announce the appointment of designer Margherita Soldati to the Advisory Board. Margherita will aid our organisation in evolving and developing an even more engaging cultural programme.

Margherita Soldati is a conceptual designer who is currently working for the Textile Lab at the Waag and has her own studio in Amsterdam. She has previously worked with renowned institutions such as Officina Corpuscoli, Mediamatic and De Appel Arts Centre. Margherita’s main concern is sensory, tactile experiences that can create benefits in our lives, especially for those suffering from alzheimer and dementia. She perceives the human body as a lively sensory system of intertwining memories and sensations that interacts with the world to produce a personalised habitat.

We asked Margherita a few questions about her current professional endeavours, what brought her to this type of practice and what her aspirations are for the future.

The Skin is an Extension of the Brain by Margherita Soldati (c) The Artist, image link

Tell us about yourself. What’s your background and what brought you to interdisciplinary design research and practice?

After being educated as an industrial designer in Italy, in 2014 I moved to Amsterdam where I graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2018 and opened my studio practice in 2016. I have always believed that interdisciplinary research facilitates new discoveries, knowledge exchange and growth.

The two experiences that personally opened up the doors to this approach to me personally have been: Working with Maurizio Montalti at Officina Corpuscoli and developing a research project at the Waag during which there has been a strong link between the Textile Lab and the Health Lab.

Uncomfortable by Margherita Soldati, film by Anne Lakeman (c) The Artist, video link

Why do you think collaboration between creatives, scientists and technologists is significant?

I view the creative as a Joker in a deck of cards - it doesn’t have to follow a specific path and rules and is allowed to make space for improvisation and intuition. This allows the creative to be an investigator who seeks cross-pollination from different fields of thought.

I think to solve today’s more complex problems, we must refocus our attention, meaning we need to create more space for interdisciplinary collaborations, which often break the standardised working procedures, giving birth to unexpected results. Even though it often generates chaos, I believe that it is a good path towards innovation. It would not happen if experts didn’t share their knowledge, if they would not allow themselves to learn from each other and bend the rules given by their practices.

What urgent issues were brought to your attention via interdisciplinary collaboration?

These past few years have witnessed a lot of discussions around the topic of material waste, which is one of the most relevant subject matters for me. Simultaneously, in my opinion, a lot can be achieved in the healthcare sector by promoting interdisciplinary collaboration.

(c) The Artist, image link

What do you think are the most pressing matters of today’s society that should be questioned and transformed? What are the problems that you personally tackle in your work?

In my opinion, there is the need for a stronger collaboration between creatives and healthcare institutions. There is so much that can be innovated and redesigned within the healthcare field, which is something I am developing within my practice. At the same time, together with Danish designer Louise Permiin, I am working on a project about the presence of micro-plastic in the human body and its consequences on human health. Since it is a collaborative project, it would not exist without the support of our partners from the scientific realm.

Corrimano by Margherita Soldati (c) The Artist, image link

Where should someone who wants to learn more about arts, life sciences and technology intersections start? Could you recommend artists or designers to follow, engaging reading, other curious finds?

Well, surely, from Unbore Collective!

There are many artists and designers that I would recommend following, such as Anna Dumitriu, Sonja Baümel, Maurizio Montalti and Špela Petrič.

I’m usually particularly interested in institutions that are developing collaborative programs, projects and events through which I get to discover new works, artists and designers. For example Waag, Transnatural, BioArt Laboratories, Mediamatic and many more.

Bio Ex-Machina by Maurizio Montalti, film by Process Film, (c) The Artist, video link

How about someone working in the field? What was the last most intriguing interdisciplinary work you read, saw or experienced?

This is difficult, since there are so many works worth mentioning, but I think that it would be the work of Sonja Baümel entitled Fifty Percent Human.

If fifty percent of the cells that constitute our body are not human but microbial, how can we get in touch with our co-habitants? Her work was questioning the possibility of sensing a language by which we could encounter non-verbal microorganisms through touch.

Fifty Percent Human by Sonja Baümel (c) The Artist, image link

Tell us more about your future plans. What will you be working on in 2020?

As previously mentioned, I am currently working on a collaborative project about the presence of microplastic in the human body and its consequences. Further on, I keep developing tactile works that healthcare institutions could benefit from, focusing especially on tactile perception in relation to human behavior. Also, this year I will focus on the issue of material waste, from plastic to textile to food, again with an attention to the human being and its sensorial perception in relation to these materials.

What are your expectations and aspirations for being Unbore’s Advisory Board member?

I am honoured to have been asked to take part as an Advisory Board member.

My wish is to support the engagement with even more artists, designers, creatives, to help disseminate knowledge and curiosity towards a diverse and broad public.

Curiosity and care are what drives me during each project and I am looking forward to learning, discovering, assisting, curating and being surprised!

Uncomfortable by Margherita Soldati (c) The Artist, image link

You can check out Margherita Soldati’s work on her website and have a look at the Waag’s Make Team and the Textile Lab, where she is involved as a member.

Stay tuned for more interviews from our Advisory Board members!