Open Materials

URL = http://openmaterials.org/

Description

"OpenMaterials is a collaborative research project dedicated to open investigation and experimentation with DIY production methods and uses of materials.

In the spirit of the open source software and hardware movements, we hope to promote materials to be researched and developed in a public, collaborative manner. We see materials as an open resource, and wish to establish an open process for exploring and sharing knowledge, techniques and applications related to materials science.

Inspired by Eric Raymond’s comment in ‘The Cathedral and the Bazaar’, regarding the bazaar style which he described as “a great babbling bazaar of differing agendas and approaches”, we hope to encourage discourse and experimentation with the broadest range of materials and processes possible.

This website is intended as a platform to share knowledge, resources and discoveries, as well as document experiments and processes."

(http://openmaterials.org/about/)

Status

2012

Catarina Mota:

"The effort to open source materials is still in its infancy but there has been some significant progress since I first became involved with it over 3 years ago.

First of all, we now have more suppliers of smart/special materials for DIYers. Online stores like Adafruit, Sparkfun and Inventables now carry things that used to be extremely hard to source. And some manufacturers have also began selling directly to the public.

The accessibility and price of smart textiles, for example, has led to an increasing number of projects and explorations by artists and makers. Many of these applications are DIY garments with both aesthetic and useful properties. Some examples I like to cite are Leah Buckley's Turn Signal Biking Jacket, Kobakant's wearable toy piano, and Diana Eng's Fairytale Fashion collection. But there are many more.

We are still in the early stages of making smart materials ourselves, but even here we've seen some progress. Kobakant runs the wonderful How to Get What You Want website which has a wealth of information on how to mix smart materials with crafting techniques to create really amazing sensors and actuators. Hannah Perner-Wilson also created the incredible Kit of No Parts that describes a series of really interesting techniques to mix high and low tech materials. And Lynne Bruning has good tutorials on how to make your own conductive fabric.

Recently we've also seen some progress in the chemistry front. A few months ago, Jordan Bunker from Pumping Station: One was able to create a DIY conductive ink based on an academic paper. And only a few weeks ago, Nick Vermeer from NYC Resistor came up with another formula for making conductive ink, based also on an academic paper, that uses off-the-shelf materials and doesn't require special equipment. These formulas aren't perfect, but neither are the ones made by professional manufacturers :)

As I see it, there are 4 phases on the roadmap to open sourcing materials:

1) Access: ability to acquire smart/special materials in quantities and prices affordable to makers

2) Documentation: information on how to use and hack the materials

3) Recipes: data on how to reproduce and modify the materials

4) Production Equipment: open source machinery and lab equipment to manufacture and hack materials

It seems we're doing pretty well in terms of stages 1 and 2, and we're starting to see some activity on stage 3. Hopefully, as we put out more information and projects, the open source hardware community will also take an interest in stage 4 - though we already have some interesting things here, such Cathal Garvey's DIY vortex device which, incidentally, Jordan used to make his conductive ink.

As for openMaterials.org, we continue to do what we've always done: sourcing new and interesting materials or DIY methods, experimenting with them, collecting information on what other people are doing, and publishing all this so others can take it to the next level." (May 31, 2012)

More Information

1. Hard Hack