Materials of
Resilience
by
Damien Stonick

Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Supervisor Keith Doyle
BSE University of Michigan 2013
A Thesis document submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF DESIGN
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
©Damien Stonick 2020

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
ii
A Note to the Reader iii
Glossary of Terms
vii
1 What is Resilience and Why Does it Matter? 11
2 Characterizing Resilience and Practice through Making
15
2.1 Reflection Through Doing: The Act of Unmaking
16
2.2 Heuristic Inquiry: A Blue Tarp 20
2.3 Making With Others- Locality Through Making
27
		
2.3.1 Collaborative Prompts
27
2.4 The Emergence of a Practice
30
		
2.4.1 What Is Felting?
31
		
2.4.2 Collaborations with Material- Reformatting Tools for New Materials 38
		
2.4.3 Collaborations with Material- Surprise, Intuitive leaps, and Knowing
			Through Making
44
		
2.4.4 Collaborations with Material- Gravity and Risk
46
		
2.4.5 Reflections on Practice
49
		
2.4.6. A Key Actions of Practice- Social Making Practice 50
		
2.4.6. B Key Actions of Practice- Emergent Material Practice
51
2.5 Het Hof Van Cartesius- A Community of Circularity 52
3 Discussion: The Link Between Resilience and Practice 60
3.1 Obstacles of Resilience
61
3.2 Characterizing Resilience Through Habit
62
3.3 The Development of a Practice for Resilience 65
4 What Do We Know and What Should We Do?
67
4.1 Design For Resilience- Building Upon Individual Practice
68
4.2 Concluding Thoughts- The Imperative of the Local Designer vs the Design Expert
References
72
Appendices 76
Appendix A
		
Collaborative Guided Making 76
		
Informal Guided Making
81
		
Thoughts on Collaboration
85
Appendix B
86
		
The Role of a Material Practice in Resilience- From the Literature 86
Appendix C
89
		Entrance/Exit Survey 89
		Workbook
91

i

A NOTE TO THE READER

A Note to the Reader
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. In this personal introduction I detail a few influential experiences that have provided a foundation for my own ways of learning, observing, designing, and knowing.
I began my journey as a maker, an engineer, a teacher, a learner, and a
problem solver. The development of my practice as a designer is founded
upon the principles, skills, and empathies I have developed in my previous
experiences and roles. I hope that you will reflect on your own values, experiences, and expectations, and contributions as you read and, hopefully,
ponder on this offering. The visual format of this document emulates that of
“The Nature And Art of Workmanship” by David Pye (1971). The wide margins
provided me with a unique space for reflection, note taking, and further examination of ideas, thoughts, and examples. I would invite you to take advantage of this space similarly.
Who Am I?
You may, like me, find the world in an ever evolving state of crisis. When I first
started writing this document, Australia was only just beginning to control
the bush-fires consuming much of the country and Puerto Rico had experienced two earthquakes in the course of a week. Now, a virus has the world
in varying states of isolation and panic. Perhaps you feel the same sense of
urgency that I do, that the world is rapidly changing and we are ill prepared
to change with it. This document details the development of my practice as
I have studied knowing through making, and identifying my own designerly
ways of knowing in response to these tumultuous times.
I have not, however, always considered or called myself a designer. I studied
engineering, Materials Science, and long considered myself an engineer. I
have long since wanted to help change the world somehow. I continued
in this vein when I lived in the Philippines, learning that change in the world
comes by connecting with one person at a time, in a way that is directed by them. Other teaching experiences in autism and language learning
programs served to more deeply embed the principles of aiding instead of
instructing, empathy, and establishing individually directed ways of sharing
and learning.

ii

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

I applied to this program with a concrete plan in mind - developing a self sustaining emergency shelter that could provide aid to the people experiencing
traumatic loss. There are many issues facing those who have experienced
loss and displacement. They leave behind homes, possessions, communities, and family members. I spent the first three months contemplating how
could I, as a designer, construct physical systems to address such complex
needs. The more I dug in, the more inappropriate it felt. Many skilled and
award winning designers have attempted to address these same issues, but
they consistently design at a distance. The Ikea shelter was designed in Sweden, but deployed in Iraq, Greece, and other countries.24 Conversely﹣Shigeru
Ban, a Japanese designer, has designed and successfully deployed paper
constructed shelters in Japan.16
The more I read and reflected, the more I asked questions of positionality,
who am I as a design researcher? An insider to the problem? Or an outsider?
While in the Philippines, I was always an outsider, even though I spoke the
same language and ate the same food. I lived in housing that was provided
for me, I always had money for food, and I didn’t have to work to protect my
family from eviction, hunger, or to provide for their schooling by asking neighbors for a loan. I stayed for what felt like a significant period of time, but no
matter how deep my love, empathy, concern, and focus, there would come
a day when I would go home and forget their daily struggles for my own.
With such physical and emotional distance, how could I possibly know what
a Filipino community needs in times of great loss?
I chose, instead, to step back to where I stand as more of an insider. Where
I reside and study on the unceded, traditional and ancestral xʷməθkʷəy̓əm
(Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ
(Tsleil-Waututh) territories. I am here as an immigrant to Canada, one who
has worked to become a member of a local community for the last five years,
and who has a lifetime of benefits from colonial and settler structures. I acknowledge that, just as I learned in the Philippines, there are communities
here for whom it is inappropriate for me to presume that I can speak on their
behalf. I also acknowledge that studying any topic in an academic setting
is a privileged position, not all those who stand in need of greater resilience
have access to time, space, and freedom to study and develop it.

iii

A NOTE TO THE READER

With these acknowledgments, I turned to an inquiry of the roots of our inability to recover from loss. I began my journey with many questions: Why do we
feel such fear for the unknown? Why do we do everything we can to put up
blinders to danger, to ideas and actions that would change our way of daily
life? Why are we not resilient? Why do we rely so much on external sources for
the solutions to our needs and problems? What do we build within ourselves
that would provide us the emotional capacity, the physical skills, and mental
acuity to not just be subjected to occurrences in our life, but to thrive whether
in times of tumultuous change, or in times of calm and certainty?
“People who conceive and set up new solutions and those who participate in
them do so by choice. Largely because of this, in the solutions they produce
there are certain features that they see as better than those proposed by the
mainstream, unsustainable system of production and consumption. They
choose solutions that make possible what they perceive to be a higher quality of life, and one that involves less consumption (of products, energy, space).
In doing so, they compensate for reduced consumption with an increase in
something else that they consider more valuable” (Manzini, 2015, p. 22).
Positionality
I recognize that my work is privileged work that is unencumbered by the daily obstacles that prevent resilience- disparities in employment and quality
of life, housing, social programs, etc. Some of this work, done in pursuit of
a Master’s degree in Design, addresses the attributes of resilience that can
strengthen an individual in these circumstances, but is not proposed as a
direct solution to these issues. Though this study is privileged in nature, it is
not a vanity practice exercised purely out of curiosity and for self satisfaction. The rigorous material and collaborative inquiry was centered upon the
definition, exploration, and establishment of the characteristics of resilience
and the characteristics of material practice with the intent of translation and
conversation both within and without the academic environment.

iv

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

I offer a definition of resilience as I have come to understand it through sustained making and reflection. There are inherent limitations to an understanding of resilience gained through an emergent practice in an academic
environment. My knowledge was gained through the privilege of education,
which is denied to many, and is built from and upon the knowledge and generosity of others as they have shared with me, encouraged me, and guided
me. Writings by authors studying in North American and Western contexts
aided in refining the language I have adopted in my discussions.
“Craft provides a vehicle for: investigating one’s relationships and identity
within the context of place; the creation of networks of social relations leading to a ‘sense of community” (SOC); and the creation of products, experiences and services rooted in culture and innovation that define place” (Ortiz,
2012). Craft and making are integral to establishing oneself as a part of a
place. For myself, the study of resilience through making led to the establishment of myself as a Local designer. Local in that I am concerned with the
long lasting impacts of my practice- do I want to choose materials or sources
that damage land for others? Or do I pursue the establishment of material
sources that reduce or eliminate damage? Do I design for somewhere else,
where the results and consequences of my design have little impact or consequence on myself, but rather serve as “the answer” for someone whose
voice I didn’t consider?
Walter Mignolo states in his writings in “Delinking: The rhetoric of modernity,” “coloniality and modernity are interlinked and suggests that West-centric
design – often considered to be an offspring of modernity – needs to be ‘to
de-linked’ from coloniality through a pluriversality of perspectives, or alternatives to a single reality concept. These alternatives present our world through
different cultural lenses or subjective representations” (Boehnert & Onafuwa,
2016, p. 10).

v

A NOTE TO THE READER

In the pluriverse there are many ways of living, doing, thinking, and acting. Arturo Escobar explains the pluriverse as “‘a world where many worlds can be
embraced’, in the Zapatista dictum”(Esteva & Escobar 2017, p. 2658). Boehnert & Onafuwa describe the role of a designer in the pluriverse as “The intrinsic privilege that allies have puts them in a position to enable opportunities
for more voices and different perspectives” (Boehnert & Onafuwa, 2016, p.
10). One must define resilience, or a person’s way of self sufficiency, for themselves. Having vocabulary gleaned through other studies and observations
can facilitate one in defining and establishing a practice of developing resilience. There is not one way of developing resilience, but for the scope of this
Master’s thesis research, the methods developed in this study are limited to
observations conducted in a Western context with the intent of application
in Vancouver. I have built my home in this region and it is only here that I can
establish and apply my own local knowledge.
Resilient systems often don’t have a base state that they constantly return
to. The definitions of resilience put forward here are one iteration of knowledge generation in an emergent research practice. It is my intention that this
work invites discussion and exploration through many different vernaculars,
cultures, and circumstances. I can only, however, speak for that of my own
experience and to share that of the people who were gracious enough to
share with me theirs.

I would also like to give a special thank you to the many people who have
supported me in this journey of establishing a new practice.
Thank you to my partner in crime, my husband, Benjamin, for not making
faces with every new crazy idea I wanted to try.
Thank you to Keith Doyle, my supervisor, who has always been supportive,
kind, and generous in guiding and advising me.
Thank you to the graduate studies faculty and sessionals who give genuine
concern, without whom, navigation of emergent practice would not have
been possible.
Thank you to my cohort, friends, and collaborators.
All of you are part of my resilience, now, and moving forward.
vi

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Glossary of Terms
Positionality- self scrutiny of the researchers’ emotions, subjectivities, lived experiences and world views. (Keikelame, 2018)
Expert design- “What may at first glance seem neutral also reveals underlying assumptions and prejudices resulting from social distances between
designers and the diverse audiences and users of design communication,
artifacts and services.” (Boehnert & Onafuwa, 2016, p. 6)

Knowing through making- doing and making comes before knowing. “The
practitioner-researcher creates an artefact and also documents, contextualises and interprets it along with the process of making it.”(Mäkelä & Nimkulrat, 2018, p. 2)
Material practice- “In craft practice, the maker generates a form as a means
of transforming the material through bodily movements, sometimes accompanied with tools.” (Aktaş & Mäkelä, 2019, p. 56)
Practice-led research- “In design research, for example, the emphasis is on
understanding the nature of practice and how to improve it rather than creating and reflecting on new artifacts… practice-based research is an original
investigation undertaken in order to gain new knowledge, partly by means
of practice and the outcomes of that practice” (Candy, 2018, p. 63).
Research through design- “Creative production can be understood as a research method.” (Mäkelä & Nimkulrat, 2018, p. 1) The research through design
method is characterized by a cycle of action, or inquiry, followed by reaction
to the outcome. The reaction then serves as a prompt for the next action or
inquiry. Reflection in action and reflection on action are a key in initiating the
next phase, or repetition, of the cycle.

Consumptive- “tending to consume” (Merriam Webster Dictionary) Here it is
used as a descriptor of consumers habitually using and disposing of goods
and resources.
Keystone habit- habits that have a chain reaction “The habits that matter
most are the ones that, when they start to shift, dislodge and remake other
patterns.” (Duhigg, 2014, p. 101)

vii

GLOSSARY

Resilience- the ability of a person, community, or system, to adapt to change,
and to maintain one’s core self and function in spite of adversity.
Scarcity- being in short supply, this is applied to a limitation on materials,
tools, or resources.
Well being- the condition or experience of health, happiness, and prosperity.

Critical reflection- “Critical reflection is a ‘meaning-making process’ that helps
us set goals, use what we’ve learned in the past to inform future action and
consider the real-life implications of our thinking. It is the link between thinking
and doing” (Waterloo University).5
Local designer- a designer who has developed local knowledge, or knowledge is rooted in the maker and originates from a specific locality (Ortiz,
2012). The designer utilizes and grows that knowledge for, with, and within
the locality that they are positioned and invested in.
Personal value system- The system by which an individual allocates value to
the objects, actions, and occupations in their life. “Design is a primary means
through which people distinguish themselves and display class allegiances.
The design industry thrives on the fact that people regularly pay more for
items that signify class pretentions.” (Boehnert & Onafuwa, 2016, p. 7).
Vernacular- Material or practice found within a specific locality.

Circularity- system, often economic, focused on eliminating waste and the
continual recirculation of materials and goods. Circularity of materials and
goods need to be part of the design (US Chamber of Commerce Foundation).20
Reformatting- re-arranging or re-contextualizing.
Waste- A mis-identified resource of the non-hazardous variety, this research
includes consumer goods that would be disposed of through landfill or secondhand industries.

viii

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Distributed Network- Robin Murray has described distributed networks as, “I
describe it as a ‘social economy’ because it melds features which are very different from economies based on the production and consumption of commodities. Its key features include: The intensive use of distributed networks to
sustain and manage relationships, helped by broadband, mobile and other means of communication. Blurred boundaries between production and
consumption. An emphasis on collaboration and on repeated interactions,
care and maintenance rather than one-off consumption. A strong role for
values and missions.” (Manzini, 2015, p.15).
Global Economy- System of industry and trade around the world (Cambridge Dictionary).
Globalization- Growth of trade and industry around the world, characterized
by global distribution, centralized areas of manufacturing and production,
and (Investopedia).
Growth Economy- The measurement of economic growth through the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), or the value of goods and services produced in a
country in a year. A growth economy requires GDP to be continually increasing (Simms & Johnson, 2010).
Place-based Economy- “Some are re-visioning, fostering new identities by
turning to place-based economies where community is now the organizing
principle. Movement in this direction is founded on the growing recognition
that wealth is generated by developing local assets.” (Ortiz, 2012, p. 23).

ix

THE INTRODUCTION

1

What is Resilience and Why Does it Matter?

“To improve your resilience is to enhance your ability to resist being pushed
from your preferred valley, while expanding the range of alternatives that
you can embrace if you need to.” (Zolli & Healy, p7)
Resilience is our capacity to weather and adapt to change while retaining
our foundations. These foundations constitute our behaviors, our needs, our
abilities, and our connections. Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy describe in
their book “Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back” events where environments
and circumstances change, and that these changes may prevent us from returning to the environment or state that we had previously inhabited. “Once
forces have compelled you into a new circumstance, it may be impossible for
you to return to your prior environment” (Zolli & Healy, 7). Resilience is how we
adjust to these changes, and how we establish a new normal.
What Prevents Our Resilience?
The lifestyle we are encouraged to live is based upon principles of meeting
our needs through purchases. This is a highly colonial structure, built upon
notions of others having what we need or desire and seeking out the means
to obtain what we want. In “Thing Theory” Brown rightly identifies that we
have fetishized our possessions, we have totemized them and isolated their
function and value as being singular and finite (2001). When we tire of the
object, we dispose of it, and seek a replacement. It has become unnecessary
in our consumptive culture to keep objects as valued things. We have become over inundated with possible purchases and ownerships that we are
forced to oscillate quickly between valued and discarded, fashionable and
outmoded. The overwhelming wealth of product and goods makes it nearly
impossible to allocate value to possessions and surrounding objects. There
are numerous parties that benefit from our inability to accurately value objects and goods, much less comprehend the real cost of those goods to us
on the individual and global scale (Humes, 2013). We have little part or place
in the material significance, construction, or value allocation of the goods we
consume.

11

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

This fetishized relationship with the material goods around us stands in direct opposition to the development of resilience. We have become reliant
upon external sources for goods, value, social standing, and perception of
well-being. We are conditioned to crave products, whether they are helpful
or harmful (Duhigg, 2014). We buy goods to sustain our emotional well being,
to address our needs, and to fulfill our social status expectations. We build
our social affiliations through goods- phones, shoes, clothing, homes, cars
(Brown, 2001). The more money spent on goods and services, the better a
nation is perceived to perform in the global economy (Humes, 2013).
Not only are our global systems oriented around our consumerist dependencies, but the resources needed to meet the growth needs of current populations on the earth for one year take the earth 18 months to generate (Daly,
2008; Simms, 2010). We have outpaced the ability of the earth’s ecosystems
to replenish the resources we rely on for growth. Should disaster come calling, we stand to lose what we feel provides us with comfort and stability - the
objects we’ve surrounded ourselves with - and leave us waiting for someone else to provide for our recovery. What reserves do we collectively have
in place to withstand an ever changing, and ever more tumultuous world?
How do we shift our value systems away from mass consumption towards
careful production, use, and care for the goods we need, and not just what
we want?
How Do We Begin to Build Our Resilience?
To begin, we must consider how we perceive our experiences, negative or
positive. Our perception of our circumstances and experiences has a direct
impact on our well-being during the experience, and after. Natalie Merrill and
her team in the Department of Psychology at Emory University conducted a
study of students and the way that they viewed traumatic experiences. They
found that when an individual recounts a positive or negative experience,
how they reflect or express the ending, positively or negatively, can have a
direct correlation with how they view themselves, and their psychological
well-being (2016).

12

THE INTRODUCTION

Sujane Kandasamy, et al, studied doll making with Indigenous communities,
focusing on developing the ability to address challenges, and aiding in the
recovery from trauma. They found that traditional art from crafting can aid
in reducing disruptions in cultural continuity, and lead to an improvement
in the well-being of the social, spiritual, emotional, and cultural needs of an
entire community (2016).
Mina Huotilainen, et al, studied the neuroscience of making and material
play. Challenges propagated through working with material have the potential for failure, and adequate emotional capacity is needed to make sense of
these challenges. Arts and crafts provide safe space to practice failure and
the reinterpretation of failure as knowledge generation. The ability to navigate failure also leads to accessing innovation and exploration as a way
of working past the unanticipated or undesired. It also allows for thinking
outside of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ interpretations of outcome (2018).
Physical activity, such as those involved in learning and executing making, is
also connected to cognitive development (Toussaint & Meugnot, 2013). Emotions are a central part of our cognition (Damasio, 1999) and are needed
in our sense-making processes (Johnson, 2007). The process of learning an
art or crafts is built in part on imitating the actions, motions, or processes of
others (Houtilainen, 2018). Imitation and mirroring others builds our capacity
to connect with and understand others (Gallese, 2001).
Studying Resilience and Material Practice
Practice-led research and research through design were used as the methodological grounding of this inquiry and all pursuant material and collaborative exercises. Making constitutes the momentum and body of research
in practice-led research. Graeme Sullivan defines it as a practice of moving
through the “unknown to the known”, whereby new knowledge is generated
and can change what we do know (2009). Critical reflection and reflective
action then contextualizes the work by teasing the research back through to
establish the new known from the investigated unknown (Huotilainen, 2018).
Maarit Mäkelä refines this as “knowing through making” and that “‘doing
and making’, is prior to understanding (2007).

13

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

The research is presented as three phases, firstly, the characterization of resilience as explored through material practice. Heuristic making, making as
reflection, disassembly as learning, collaborative making, and reflective writing are used as the primary methods.
Secondly, the characteristics and actions of practice as constructed through
the emergence and definition of a resilient design practice. This emergence
was structured by the characterizations of craft by both David Sennett and
Richard Pye. The actions conducted were grounded by questions regarding
what constitutes a resilient design practice.
Thirdly, this course of research explores making as a mode of reorienting
personal value systems by connecting the actions of practice that are corresponding to characteristics of resilience. This is presented through the design
of a series of exercises compiled in a workbook. The discussion then leads
to the position of a resilient designer as a Local Designer and the benefits of
adopting resilient practices in individual practices and the potential to extend outward as distributed networks (Manzini, 2015).

14

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

2

Characterizing Resilience and Practice through Making

What is practice-led research? Lisa Grocott describes it as, “The crafting of
a research program that enhances feedback calls for multiple research activities, the consideration of the subject from multiple perspectives and the
communication of the research through multiple modes. The multi-faceted
nature of this research program may not lend itself to pre-determining the
research direction yet it can tap into the cognitive discipline a practitioner
brings to the act of designing” (2018, p. 16).
Each act of doing as research was initiated by a line of inquiry, or a series of
questions. As Grocott describes, the intention of the research was always in
place- the development of resilience. The direction, however, was led by making. With each act of making, a series of questions were unearthed through
reflection that led the inquiry to the next. Advances in practice occurred
through experimentation, response, reflection, and iteration.
The emergence of my practice followed two phases. The first pursued the
characterization of resilience through material practice. The methods used
were reflection and reflective making, heuristic inquiry, and collaborative
making.
The second phase pursued the characteristics and actions of practice. These
were constructed through the emergence and definition of a resilient design
practice. This emergence was structured by the characterizations of craft by
both David Sennett and Richard Pye. The actions conducted were grounded
by questions regarding what constitutes a resilient design practice.
These two phases are summarized through reflection on the actions of practice. These actions of practice provide the foundation for the synthesis of resilience and material practice in the discussion.

15

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.1 Reflection Through Doing: The Act of Unmaking

REFLECTION
IMPROVISATION

RESEARCH
THROUGH
DESIGN PROCESS
REACTION

Fig. 1- Research Through Design cycle

There is a distinct division between self-indulgent material play and practice-led research and research through design. This division lay in the utilization of reflection. Glanville describes the process as learning continuously,
and modifying subsequent action through reflection on the previous (2015).
I found that reflection serves as the bridge between the bodily connection
with material, and the mental connection with the body or the material as
I disassembled sweaters. Each sweater became both an act of material
re-appropriation, and a deep space of grounding and mediation that broke
up the mental intensities of navigating a multi-disciplinary space.
Sennett contextualizes this reflection space as the importance of learning
when to let go (2008). This allows one to step back, leave the trouble to rest,
and come back with fresh eyes and intentions. Zolli & Healy address space
taking as part of replenishing the finite emotional currency an individual has
to expend. They position mindful meditations as a mode of grounding oneself and renewing the balance of emotional currency (2013).
In the act of deconstruction, the complexities of a knitted garment began to
embody the ideas I was contemplating. Sennett described something similar
wherein we become so bodily invested and engaged in what we are making
or working with, that we become the thing on which we are working. We
cease to be self aware and become engrossed in full with the action of making (2008). It was in this space of “being as a thing” that I was able to reflect,
to contextualize, and to both figuratively and literally tease out the ends of
ideas from the body of the sweater I was dismantling.
Being as a thing, in turn, transitioned into a curiosity regarding the object
I was disassembling. The reflective moments facilitated by unmaking led
into the study of the craft embodied in the garment. I was not able to be
present for the sweater’s creation, to watch the maker in motion, observing
their movements and their peculiarities. Though I could, in pieces, surmise the
dance of material negotiation and study the marks of their work.

16

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 2- Step One of Disassembling a Sweater: Identify the seams of the knitted sweater. Turn the sweater
inside out. Check the shoulders and under the arm, along the arm and down the sides of the front panel(s). Check if there is a collar, pockets, or any removable components.
As a designer with a material practice, it felt painful to spend long durations
of study without the interjection of making and material learning. Unmaking as reflection served as a method of connection between material, social,
philosophical, and emotional navigations. The grounding invited a regular
connection with material. I was able to explore ideas through knot picking,
think of how my hands felt entangled in yarn instead of fretting, and develop
a gratitude for the partnership of material and craft- from the knit and assembly, to the work and treatment of the fiber.
These acts of embodiment and reflection were carried out throughout the
entirety of the inquiry, serving to ground material practice and exploration
to reflection.

17

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig . 3- Step 2: Once you have
identified the different components, seams, and removables, look along the seams
for the stitching. Many sweaters are knitted together, if you
find the knitted seam - see outlined chains on the left - you
can pull the seam out with
one string. The direction of the
seam points up along the V.
Start at the top of the V, find
the tail, and pull gently.

Fig. 4- Step 3: Remove all components, panels, buttons, pockets,
etc. Choose one component to
start with and begin unraveling.

18

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 5- Step 4: Look at your selected
component, what direction to the
V’s of the knit face? You might also
see them as little hearts lined up.
The side with the top of the heart,
or V, will have a chain you can pull
out. Find the tail and pull gently.
Different colors may be tied together in a single line, or they may
be knitted in overlapping lines.
Fig. 6- Gently wind the yarn you
have unraveled around your
hand and store for later use.

19

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.2 Heuristic Inquiry: A Blue Tarp

Fig. 7- Spanish Banks beach in Vancouver, BC. Blue tarp structure featured in distance.
I set out to emulate improvisational acts with the intent of providing for a
need. Having had a childhood of camping, making and building, and being comfortable caring for my needs outdoors, I needed to step outside of
myself in order to observe and study my actions and choices. I wasn’t simply
venturing out to confirm that I did indeed know how to build a structure. I
needed to convey the experience of encountering a new environment and
building with what was available to someone who had never done such a
thing before.
I did not want to erase my previous experiences in making. I did, however,
need to translate my knowledge into an emulatable process. I brought a
knife, a blue tarp, string, and a few pieces of bamboo. I also brought a camera and my phone for audio recording. These observational tools would allow me to make with limited interruption, and to use verbalization as a method of sorting and reflection.
20

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 8-Assemblies of driftwood
providing the framework for
tarp shelter

Fig. 9- Assemblies of driftwood,
small pieces used to anchor
down the A-frame side.

21

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

I had hopes that the beach had not been overly groomed, and that my
journey would lead me to a comfortable shelter on the beach. I parked and
conducted a survey of the area, encountering signs barring entry or use of
collected driftwood. I moved closer to the water, where no such signs existed,
and took stock of the available material.
The basic form of my shelter was formed with the most easily utilized pieces
of driftwood. Two large pieces were already rested next to one another and
were used as an anchoring for a small A-frame. I made several trips along
the beach, identifying new pieces of driftwood that were usable with each
pass. Bits of string and smaller pieces of driftwood held the tarp in place over
the frame. The windy and cold day prompted small evolutions of form. I negotiated the position of the tarp to provide the most coverage against the
wind, pulling one side of the tarp closer to the ground on the east side.
The iterations were small, but purposeful, and improvisations occurred in
how I decided to attach the string to the tarp or to the driftwood. Some driftwood was too large to shift, so I pulled lengths of the soaked bark up to
wedge the string into the body of the log and tie it to secure.
Improvisation proved the most crucial aspect of responding to the limited
materials available. The beach became my collaborator as we negotiated
materials, the elements, and my pre-existing comfort with knots and informal
making.
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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 10 (Opposite page)- Assembled shelter
using blue tarp, driftwood, and string.

Fig. 11 (Top Right)- Blue tarp secured to driftwood branch using hitch knots.

Fig. 12 (Bottom)- Interior of shelter, the
opening faces away from the wind, a seat
was made out of smaller pieces of dry
driftwood.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig. 13- Blue tarp and car door, anchored to the grass using paperclips and lifted by two small pieces of
bamboo.
My making, combined with mild pneumonia, then took me to my neighborhood. Positioning
myself on traffic island had little other purpose than to give me the opportunity to make my
neighbors slightly uncomfortable, and to prompt the question “What does it look like when we
improvise with all of our available resources?”
These improvisational and situational investigations resulted in a series of questions and observations- How do I approach improvisation with limited materials in an unfamiliar environment?
What do I learn about the process of evaluating materials and environment?

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 14- View of the car-tarp shelter in front of neighborhood houses.

Fig. 15- Testing the shelter, both my feet
and my head were uncovered, the
gap between the car and the curb
made it difficult to use the car as a
back rest. Would not recommend in a
pinch- just sleep in your car.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Evaluating Your Environment
What do you see? Are
there useful forms?

Hypothetical Structures
What can I build?

What can you build
with? Categorize them

Tips:
Building Shapes

Fig. 16- Template prototype of a field guide for improvisational making

26

I began labeling, tracing over images of the
shelters, and writing in order to sort through
the processes involved in addressing a new
environment and collaborating with the environment to build a shelter. I tracked through
my thinking process, noting the points where
I paused, where I asked questions, and where
I made decisions. I organized these pauses,
ideation, and decision making points as short
prompts with space to record. The format
emerged as an observing and making exercise in the shape of a field journal (See Fig 16).
This field journal prototype prompted another
series of questions. What is the most effective
way to guide someone through an improvisational making process? What tools do they
need, literally and figuratively, in order to recognize what is useful and what is possible? I
recognized that making with an environment
is an active, collaborative process. Making a
plan and execution are two separate acts that
involve different types of thinking and acting
and require observation for the first, and negotiation with the space and available materials
in the second.

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

2.3 Making With Others- Locality Through Making
Local knowledge is built through acts of making in a specific locality (Ortiz,
2012). A locality is constructed of materials, environments, and inhabitants.
In order to build holistic local knowledge, one must pursue collaborative
acts to gain and embody local knowledge through both the outcomes of
the collaboration and connection between collaborators. Local knowledge
was built through multiple collaborative exercises. These collaborations consisted of facilitation of making, discussion, and reflection on how material
practices and resilience building behaviors can be initiated. Appendix A and
the following section document some of the more influential acts of collaboration conducted in this research.
2.3.1 Collaborative Prompts
In the early phases of my research I had
explored acts of making in a community through peer studio based workshops.
Observations of behavior in a collective led
to the question of what types of prompts
initiate acts of improvisational making.
I extended an invitation to Jean, one of my
classmates, to follow one such prompt as
part of a knowledge exchange we had
proposed- collaboration through request
and response. I provided a tarp and a
small written prompt.

Fig. 17 - Scanned copy of the prompt extended to Jean, building upon the principles explored in the field guide prototype.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Jean received a tarp and the prompt. The prompt instructed her to use the tarp to replace, by making, one object in
her life that she used regularly. Jean, prior to opening the
prompt, had presumptively decided how she would use
the tarp- as a tarp in her balcony. She had to adjust to the
unexpected nature of the prompt and was invited to reconcile the tarp not as a tarp, but as a material for building
and making with. Jean mentally established a set of personal rules and expectations for her making. She determined
she needed specific materials and tools before she could
begin the process. As time passed, the due date of our exchange pushed her to realize that she was able to use materials and tools she already had- provided she altered her
plan. Her pre-existing skills and knowledge supported her
making process and she elected to use a minimally invasive
approach to the tarp and construction of her jacket. She
was pleased to share her experience on social media, and
enjoyed the experience of wearing her made object on the
train to and from the school.

Fig. 18 - Jean in her improvised tarp jacket. She
wore the jacket for most of the day.

28

Jean is a designer, though not a regular maker. She has had
making experience, and had been a willing participant in
previous making exercises and invitations. The results of
her prompt reaction led to a few realizations. The nature of
our relationship with materials and objects can determine
how we view the purpose and potential of how they can
be used or modified, and the use of pre-existing skills are a
means of adapting when our plans change.

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 19 - Jean sharing her making on social media

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.4 The Emergence of a Practice
“All levels of organization, from the floor under your feet to global orchestration, can be centered on resilience, and questions of direction, structure, and
method can be worded to address the deeply rooted question “How do we
ensure our personal resilience in the face of life’s inevitable hardships?” (Zolli,
2013, p. 15).
Understanding what constitutes a material practice is how facilitation, making, and design connect. By understanding the actions that constitute practice we can begin to affirm the corresponding characteristics of resilience.
The emergence of my practice followed Richard Sennett’s description of intuitive leaps through reformatting, surprise, gravity, and adjacency. Reflection
in action guided the progression of material explorations and meditative reflection grounded each action in a version of the question posed by Zolli and
Healy in the above quote.
“How do my decisions as a designer and maker contribute to myself and my
community becoming more resilient?”
In the early stages of my research I sought to address this question through
the reformatting of existing materials, specifically waste, as new materials.
There were two events that directly impacted and altered the trajectory of
my practice in this space. The first was my proposal to use reclaimed knit
sweaters with the technology housed in the TARP lab to produce felt for a
Winnipeg warming huts submission. The second was the occurrence of a
fire in the Emily Carr building, an event that closed the wood shop for over a
month. Adaptation within these two events led the redirection of making in
the wood shop to focus on available facilities, namely the felting machine in
the TARP lab of Material Matters that was unaffected by the fire and water
damage.

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

2.4.1 What Is Felting?
Felting is the act, whether by heat, water, and agitation, or by physical manipulation with barbed needles, that ordered fibers are entangled and tightened into an irreversibly entangled material. The following illustration details
the process of felting through the use of an industrial felting machine.

Fig.20 - Yarn unraveled from a
sweater is wound around the
hand (see Fig 6). The wound
yarn is then cut in half, with a
few lengths left longer.

Fig. 21 - Yarn from several
sweaters is arranged on the
felting machine bed in color
groupings. The yarn is then
lightly kneaded with the longer
yarn lengths. The intensity of the
kneading, if any, determines the
color distribution.

Fig. 22 - Side view of yarn on the
bed. Yarn with thinner gauge
yarn has a lower volume of
fibers available for felting.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig. 23- The yarn on the bed is
fed into the machine rollers. The
rollers press and pull the yarn
into the machine. The rollers
have small teeth, so the maker
must use their hands to compress and press the yarn into
the rollers

Fig. 24- As the yarn enters the
machine it encounters a series
of barbed needles (see on the
left). As the needles move downward, the fibers around the
needle are pushed downwards,
breaking the direction of them
as they entered the machine

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. -25 As the needle goes up
the opposite facing barbs on
the needle pull fibers upward,
tangling the fibers further with
each needle movement.

Fig. 26- The needles of the
machine are attached to a
plate that moves up (Top) and
down (Bottom), the needles
pass through a plate at the
bottom with holes in it, allowing
the felting action of the needles
to occur as the material passes
through

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig. 27- Piles of cut, unraveled yarn, both 100% acrylic.

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 28- Acrylic yarn arranged on the felting machine bed. Once the machine
is turned out, hands will be needed to press the yarn down enough to be
pulled through by the rollers. Any gaps in hand-work will lead to gaps in the
felted sheet

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig. 29- (Top) Yarn in partially felted sheet, the yarn on the bed has passed
through the felting machine one time. Patching occurs during almost all passes
Fig. 30- (Right) Completed felted sheet, the yarn has passed through more than
10 times.

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

37

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.4.2 Collaborations with Material- Reformatting Tools for New Materials
The first act of reformatting occurred through the availability of the felting
machine for research. Ideas of fabricating our own felt were floated around
the lab as a result. When the proposal for the warming huts competition
brought up the use of felt, I posited the question of using textile waste, namely sweaters, to create the felt. The question was prompted by reflections on
what constitutes a resilient choice in design- how do we address the goods
and materials that already exist before we seek out new material? Sennett
describes reformatting as taking a familiar practice or tool and applying it in
a new fashion. Felt typically uses new wool and my perception was that the
integration of synthetic or non-wool materials would potentially reduce or
prevent the wool’s ability to felt.

2.4.2 Collaborations with Material- Reformatting Tools for New Materials
The first act of reformatting occurred through the availability of the felting
machine for research. Ideas of fabricating our own felt were floated around
the lab as a result. When the proposal for the warming huts competition
brought up the use of felt, I posited the question of using textile waste, namely sweaters, to create the felt. The question was prompted by reflections on
what constitutes a resilient choice in design- how do we address the goods
and materials that already exist before we seek out new material? Sennett
describes reformatting as taking a familiar practice or tool and applying it in
a new fashion. Felt typically uses new wool and my perception was that the
integration of synthetic or non-wool materials would potentially reduce or
prevent the wool’s ability to felt.

Fig. 31- Content of sweaters
tested.
1) 100% wool;
2) 75% wool/25% acrylic;
3) 40% angora/20%merino
wool/40% acrylic;
4) 20% wool/80% acrylic

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 32- 100% wool sweater in the process of disassembly. The yarn gauge is quite small so it would benefit from
mixing with larger gauge yarn. The colors, however, do not blend with others on hand.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig. 33-Felted sweater sheet- No other sweater yarn was included. This is the
result of mixing and kneading yarn fibers to pull the longer yarn lengths out
and through the whole- exaggerating what the machine would have done
without intervention.
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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 34- Pattern making, bridging disorder and order. Pattern assembled from squares of a
knitted merino wool and cashmere sweater with thicker gauge 100% wool unraveled yarn.
The squares needed multiple passes in small batches to felt together at the corners

41

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.4.2 Collaborations with Material- Reformatting Tools for New Materials
The first act of reformatting occurred through the availability of the felting
machine for research. Ideas of fabricating our own felt were floated around
the lab as a result. When the proposal for the warming huts competition
brought up the use of felt, I posited the question of using textile waste, namely sweaters, to create the felt. The question was prompted by reflections on
what constitutes a resilient choice in design- how do we address the goods
and materials that already exist before we seek out new material? Sennett
describes reformatting as taking a familiar practice or tool and applying it in
a new fashion. Felt typically uses new wool and my perception was that the
integration of synthetic or non-wool materials would potentially reduce or
prevent the wool’s ability to felt.

Fig. 35- First full sweater test in the felting machine. All toggles were removed
and the sweater inserted as flatly as possible.
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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 36- Mixed blend wool sweater sheet, 50% acrylic, 25% polyester, 25% wool. The soft and
inviting texture is due to passing the sheet through the machine only 10 times. It is loose in some
places and has not been fully patched.
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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.4.3 Collaborations with Material- Surprise, Intuitive leaps, and Knowing
Through Making
Testing sweaters to determine what content of wool was required for a felted sheet to be fabricated was the next logical step in pursuing the use of
reclaimed sweater yarn. This constituted the question “if this is possible, to
what extent?” I tested four sweater sleeves, still knit, but separated from the
sweater body- 100% wool; 75% wool and 25% acrylic; 40% angora 20% merino wool and 40% acrylic; lastly 20% wool and 80% acrylic (side bar diagram
instead?). I determined that, while the content of yarn does have an impact
on how many repetitions are necessary for binding, the volume/thickness of
the yarn can compensate for the reduced wool content. Almost all sweaters,
including those with portions of slippery polyester, or 100% acrylic, could be
used to successfully produce a felted sheet.
Intuitive leaps are guided by the “If..?” and “What if...?” mode of inquiry. It is
a progression of initial exploration of potential followed by defining and extending the inquiry. These are also exercises conducted in Materials Science,
where the determination of a system’s characteristics makes connection with
other systems (tools, materials, methods) possible.
“Surprise is a way of telling yourself that something you know
can be other than you assumed.”
Richard Sennett, 2008, p. 209

Intuitive leaps progressed from questions of “what if” to contemplations
of impact, material selection, retention of material identity, and re-valuing
waste through new context and form. Just as the fibers of the sweater yarn
became entangled and embedded in one another, so did the felted sheets
begin to embody the phases of understanding the emerging material. The
partnership of reflection through unmaking and the body-material negotiation of making were beginning to become an inseparable whole, just as
the fibers of a felted sheet grow closer and closer with each puncture of the
barbed needle. Mäkelä described this as knowing through making, where
the object or outcome of the making serves as an embodiment of the knowledge gained (2007).

Fig. 37- (Right) Mixture of 100% wool (blue yarn) and 80% acrylic with 20%
wool yarn (grey). Both of the yarns were of a similar, medium weight gauge
and felted very similarly. The wool was more quickly felted, but the acrylic
would have only needed one or two more passes to have the same felted
strength as the wool components.

44

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

45

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.4.4 Collaborations with Material- Gravity and Risk
The gravity that Sennett includes as part of intuitive thinking lay in addressing
material problems. A new solution for one problem does not automatically
solve another. I may have answered the question of using reclaimed sweater yarn to produce felt, but that opened up a whole new arena of material
negotiation.
“Through reflection-in-action, practitioners can evaluate their encounters
during the process of making and alter their actions accordingly” (Aktaş &
Mäkelä, 2019, p. 60).
In felting with a machine and yarn, the behavior of the yarn is both predictable and unpredictable. Patterns may appear similarly as placed, but the
strength of the resulting sheet is entirely dependent on how the yarn shifted, relented, or resisted the guiding motion of the rollers. If the yarn resisted
the pull of the rollers, and I did not press and guide the body of the yarn
through them, there would be gaps, lengths of yarn pulled out where the
sheet continued. These vacant spaces then needed patching, and decisions
about how to match or distribute colors, arrangements, and portions of yarn
then determined the sheet’s appearance after patching. “by its nature, wool
advances its own entanglements whereas the maker aims to create her/his
own entanglements. The way how these two movements contribute to the
emergence of the new artefact can thus be understood as a negotiation
as the movements of the material and the maker come to an agreement to
create the final form” (Aktaş & Mäkelä, 2019, p. 62).
David Pye discusses something akin to gravity in the two different sides of
workmanship, the workmanship of certainty and the workmanship of risk.
The workmanship of certainty can be categorized as workmanship that
utilizes methods with predetermined outcomes. Automatic machinery and
production would be considered workmanship of certainty. Workmanship of
risk, contrarily, is work that has risk inherent (2015).
The felting machine in the TARP lab in Material Matters is a production tool
and has many attributes of workmanship of certainty. It is very simple to run
layers through and, with repetition, return a fully felted and integrated whole.
One question in the progression of this practice development is at what point
does making action shift from play to practice? In other words, when does
material exploration (low perceived risk) transition to practice- higher actual
outcome risk?

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 38- This piece is felted from a 100%
acrylic blanket (white pieces) that was
crocheted and had been felted from
many washes. The blanket was cut into
crocheted sections and were felted together with the grey, 100% acrylic yarn.
The crocheted pieces were too bulky to
easily pass through the machine and the
needles struggled to puncture the bulk.
Most of the blanket pieces fell off. The
result, however, is a piece of material in
the middle of refinement, or one that has
come from risk and is the result of failure.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

2.4.5 Reflections on Practice
The transition between exploration and practice were reflected upon in two
different venues. The first being a sharing session in the TARP lab with other
designers who had concurrently been exploring the use of felt in their practice. The second being through the act of felting itself.
The designers involved in the felting share were generous enough to respond
to a discussion around risk, the nature of risk in practice, and the approach
to refining material play when using the felting machine to move exploration
to research and play to practice. I have included a small excerpt from the
discussion between myself and Hélène Day Fraser.
D: The craftsmanship of risk is like hand carving. There is the chance that
you’re going to dig too deep and there’s going to be an amount of failure.
There’s a risk inherent in every step of the process. The felting loom is this interesting intersection of risk and certainty.
If you were to hand felt a whole meter length sheet, you know that it’s either
going to turn out correctly all the way through or there are going to be points
of failure and it’s because your attention drifted. With acrylic fibers it’s not going to wet felt, so I’d have to do needle felting by hand. That’s insane. But with
this loom, we have a level of certainty that if we stick it through, something’s
going to happen and that we don’t need to be as specific. But how do we
take on more risk? How do we refine technique? How do we approach this
as a research tool and develop practice? So that’s the question- is where is
refinement or the taking on of risk? How are we looking at this as a practice?
H: For me, that goes back to when people were just shoving things into the
loom. I’m curious how that collectively shifts over time, because there’s this
sort of immediate joy of putting something through and noticing “It’s going
together!” This thing of just pushing it all through and realizing you can create a cloth. But that to me is not the craft.
So then maybe it’s identifying what the combination is. If it’s already risk apparent, you refine; if it is totally refined then you have to insert risk.
Fig. 39- Partially felted wool sheet, back side felted with front side left unfelted
to leave the wool textured in the same fashion that it was laid out.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.4.6. A Key Actions of Practice- Social Making Practice
The actions of practice discussed in section 2 are summarized here in Sections 2.4.6 A&B. These actions are described as discerned through both the
social making and emergent material practices.
Heuristic making, making as reflection, disassembly as learning, collaborative making, and reflective writing were used in the formulation of the characteristics and actions of social making practice.
Action of Practice
Guidance vs Dictation

Discussion as Reflection

Share and Critique

Problem Solving

50

Description and function
Facilitation of others’ making and
improvisational journey. Minimum
intervention- guiding the provocation, not dictating the outcome
Spouse, Benjamin, played a critical
role in navigating complex ideas of
resilience, habit, practice. Conversations with others provided insight
into material valuation, craft as
culture, craft as practice.
Posing questions to designers and
makers using the same means of
production and research to aid
in the definition of practice with
a piece of industrial equipment.
Establishment that practice is in
taking on risk and refining, making
without risk is not practice.
Frequently throughout making and
exploration there are unexpected
outcomes, or even issues/disinclinations of materials or system to
behave in a particular way. Iterating, documenting, and innovation
are all aspects of problem solving
that are essential to the divination
of an individual practice. Collaboration, discussion, and critique are
methods of extending the problem
solving outward.

CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

2.4.6. B Key Actions of Practice- Emergent Material Practice
Improvisation, reaction, iteration, documentation and reflective writing were
used in the formulation of the characteristics and actions of an emergent
material practice.

Action of Practice
Improvisation

Minimum intervention

Documentation

Reflection

Material Awareness

Description and function
Reaction to nature of material,
partnership with material in making
(preferred) vs subjugation of material, outcome is determined through
process of making, relies on leaps of
intuition (Sennett, 2008)
Minimum intervention with materials and with others- persuasion of
outcome and behavior. Characterized by role of facilitation or limited
material modification
Mode of processing and embedding practice as muscle memory/
second nature. Allows for tracing
of process, method, and correlate
results with choices or behavior
while making
Reflective writing provided the
foundation for making as learning,
improvisation and making, making
as observation, etc. This was an
irreplaceable aspect of the research
Developing skills of identification,
valuation, and ideation in regards
to the identity and potential of materials (Sennett, 2008)

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

2.5 Het Hof Van Cartesius- A Community of Circularity

Fig. 40-(Top) Skyscraper by Studio KCA, sculpture is made from 5 tons of plastic waste that was
polluting waters near Hawaii. The sculpture was on loan to the city of Utrecht until September
2019.
Fig. 41- (Bottom Left) Restaurant “Roost Aan De Singel” is a cafe that appears to have been built
from recycled construction materials.
(Bottom Right) Seating area built of pallets outside of film house and recording studio.

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

The opportunity to extend my experience outside of North America was a
key inflection point in the trajectory of my personal practice. I was exposed to
a variety of studio practices, dissemination tactics, and methods of community development through material practice. One community in particular
provided a precedent for community scale practices of resilience. In this document I will only be detailing the community Het Hof Van Cartesius, though
there were many other observations, reflections, and experiences that were
personally valuable.
The City of Utrecht has spent a great deal of effort in the last few years focusing on the development of a new center of the city. One of the neighborhoods in development is home to a half block development titled “Het Hof
Van Cartesius.” This land was proposed to the city of Utrecht as a community
built entirely from recycled and reused construction materials. Charlotte and
Bianca Ernst are the architect and community organizer, respectively. I was
able to visit and speak with Bianca and Mark Ernst, who is also involved more
directly with the tenants, regarding the origins and practices of the community.
The development was submitted as a bid to the city, funded by their company, Buurman, which works to coordinate the integration of used construction
material in new construction projects. The process of constructing buildings
entirely from used materials begins with Charlotte developing a plan for a
structure. The plan must be adjustable according to the material available,
not the material being adjusted according to the plan (contrary to most design and construction.) She is able to improvise at all stages of the planning
and building because she has already developed her knowledge and skill in
design, zoning laws, and has applied them to a guiding principle of utilizing
what’s available. This combination has resulted in a multitude of innovations
for use - many of which are detailed in Fig. 42-46.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig. 42- Decorative details made from panels, furniture pieces, scrap wood, plastic packaging, marbles, and
others, on exterior of artist and business fronts inside Het Hof Van Cartesius.

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 43- Station facing corner of Het Hof Van Catesius. The first introduction to the community includes mixed source
paneling and rusted, stainless steel remnants from industrial water jet cutting.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

Fig. 44- (Opposite) Uses of used construction and
consumer materials in building, decoration, and
functional applications
Fig. 45-Clockwise: (Left) Bottle cap storage made
from recycled steel. (Right) Pallets fitted as wall
cladding and indoor garden shelving. (Bottom)
Bar counter built for festival in Amsterdam re-purposed as kitchen counter.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Maintenance of this community is not, however, left to the founders/developers. Community members- both business and residential, must agree to contribute to the care of the community and property as part of their residence.
In this community goods, materials, and possessions are cycled and used as
many times as possible before disposal.
Het Hof Van Cartesius is an example of top-down and bottom-up social innovation discussed by both Manzini, regarding social innovation (2015) and
Zolli & Healy, regarding lasting resilient change (2013). The City of Utrecht has
prioritized this neighborhood as a local hub, with several other circularity oriented businesses, in a former business park. This support was extended to
a bottom-up initiative by a family, the Ernst siblings, that had established a
business and personal practice of circularity and were seeking to extend that
practice toward building a community. Without the strength of both ends of
the hourglass described by Zolli and Manzini, the momentum now heralded
and initiated in other parts of Utrecht would not have taken hold.

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Fig. 46- This new workshop and material repository building was under construction at the time of my visit. Materials were sourced from a development site in The Hague. The laminate wood had been cut incorrectly for the
construction plans.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

3

Discussion: The Link Between Resilience and Practice

In the actions of practice I was able to learn that making is a low-stakes learning space, wherein a burgeoning maker can explore new ideas, practice
new skills, and connect with others in a community in the process of learning
and practicing.
I have presented making as a mode of connecting the actions of practice
that are corresponding to characteristics of resilience. The connections of a
material practice and resilience are detailed in Appendix B. In this discussion
I present the synthesis of studying resilience and material practice through
a series of exercises compiled in a workbook. I also describe resilient design
and the importance of a Local designer. Manzini, in “Design, When Everybody Designs,” states some of the outcomes of adopting resilient practices
lead to strengthened communities in distributed networks (2015).
The workbook builds on Richard Sennett’s discourse of material awareness
- meaning a comprehension of what is around participants and an excitement for potential making (2008) - as a means of developing a higher appreciation and utilization of surrounding objects as resources. This awareness
facilitates the instigation of improvisation, re-purposing, and social making
as new habits and behaviors. Personal value and satisfaction that is gained
through skill, knowledge, and the appropriation of goods serve as building
blocks of resilient individuals that can initiate the growth of resilient communities by example and invitation.
“The abductive leap allows the researcher to work with the designer’s ability
to tackle situations from multiple perspectives. In seeing connections across
and between disparate sources of content it becomes possible for new ways
of seeing the research problem to be disclosed,” (Grocott, 2018).

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CHARACTERIZING RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE THROUGH MAKING

3.1 Obstacles of Resilience
Through the duration of my thesis research I was working through two interconnected spaces- the development of practice, and the development of
resilience. I have already touched upon the development of practice in the
previous section (and additional sections in Appendix A).
Resilience can be constructed of obstacles and strengths equivalently. To
each characterizing strength that constitutes resilience, there is an obstacle
that either serves as challenge to our fortitude, or a subversion or reformatting of the obstacle (see Fig 47) that reaffirms and further expands our horizons. Zolli & Healy describe this in “Resilience: How Things Bounce Back” as
expanding our range of alternatives (2015).
Discomfort
Obstacle
-Potential of failure
-Lack of knowledge or skill
-No tools or preferred material
-Unsure of outcome
-Need specific conditions to succeed

Subversion
+”Failure” can be used to inform the next
inquiry, refinement not termination
+Learn negotiation and adaptation
+Drives or encourages change

Scarcity
-Limited resources
-Saving for future use
-Fear of waste
-No access to desired materials

+Limits encourage innovation
+Material is valued as resource now, not hidden against uncertainty
+Waste is reduced or redirected to become
resource
+Design for the material, not material for the
design

Indeterminance
-Uncertainty
-Limited understanding of objects,
limited or singular purpose/use
-Preference toward habit/familiarity

+Freedom of possibility
+View objects as systems of potential or
resource
+Embracing end results as knowledge- perceived success or failure
+Making leads the process, not the intended
outcome

Fig. 47 -Obstacles of resilience and subversions
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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

3.2 Characterizing Resilience Through Habit
Resilience in an individual can be described through relationships, habits,
priorities, abilities, and unique traits. Fig. 48 illustrates my efforts at mapping
what constitutes an individual’s personal resilience. Through making and reflection, I have observed that an individual’s potential for growth and active
contribution to others are traditionally recognized characteristics of success.
Zolli & Healy describe these through the fundamentals of hardiness- “1) the
belief that one can find a meaningful purpose in life, 2) the belief that one
can influence one’s own surroundings and the outcome of events, and 3)
the belief that positive and negative experiences will lead to learning and
growth,” (2015, p. 127). Growth can be described as the ability a person has to
learn new things and progress economically, academically, socially, or emotionally. Active growth- or an individual’s proclivity to learn and change- has
a more significant impact on resilience than potential alone. Contributions
to others can be described as how a person adds to the collective whole,
through expertise, their resources, or their knowledge. How an individual
navigates and addresses obstacles is also key to resilience (See Fig 47). Resilience is increased through the utilization of obstacles as opportunities to
learn, change, and adapt (Zolli & Healy, 2015). Lastly, the mode in which an individual builds relationships with others is indicative of resilience. Strong and
weak ties with others, i.e. close friends and acquaintances, are equivalently
important to building resilience outside of personal resources (Zolli & Healy,
2015; Duhigg, 2014).
“Yet resilience-thinking does not simply call us into a defensive crouch against
uncertainty and risk. Instead, by encouraging adaptation, agility, cooperation, connectivity, and diversity, resilience-thinking can bring us to a different way of being in the world, and to a deeper engagement with it,” (Zolli &
Healy, 2015, p. 16).
Each aspect of individual resilience consists of established habits. How we
spend our time, interact with others, and address challenge or change are
behaviors that we have built into our cognitive perception and processing of
situations (Merrill, 2016). Habits are how we ingrain behaviors that aid us in
being able to adapt to changed circumstances, and habits are what ground
us in our core purpose (Zolli & Healy, 2013; Duhigg, 2014).

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DISCUSSION: THE LINK BETWEEN RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE

Fig 48- Areas where an individual can either exhibit or develop resilience. Conversely, weaknesses in these areas
can result in the reduction of resilience
Charles Duhigg describes habits as three main parts: cue, routine, and reward in his book, “The Power of Habit”. A cue initiates a routine in our brains.
The routine is the action and behavior, mental, physical, or emotional. The
reward is the confirmation that the routine is positive (2014). Similarly, Zolli &
Healy (2014) and Donella Meadows (“Thinking in Systems”, 2015) would describe the Cue and Reward components of habit as feedback loops- where
the results or consequences of an action or system provide feedback that
either confirms the system or action as positive or negative.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Feedback loops exist in all levels of organization and system organization.
Both external and internal stimuli provide the reward or feedback that reinforces or removes the validation of action or system. In a community, the
resilience of an individual is not isolated from the resilience of the community.
Duhigg described communities as collections of habits existing in thousands
of people (2014). Fig 49 gives an example of individual resilience mappings as
they can connect outward into a larger, community network. This mapping
was developed through a series of reflective writings and mapping. Individuals who have many resources can contribute them in support of those with
fewer resources, or someone with unique skills that can strengthen someone
else’s positive habits or growth. This is a very simplified representation, but a
resilient network is one of material, social, and emotional connection, collaboration, and sharing (Zolli & Healy, 2014).

growth potential
unique skills
resources
habits
individual

Fig. 49 -Connection of individual habits and characteristics into a network
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DISCUSSION: THE LINK BETWEEN RESILIENCE AND PRACTICE

3.3 The Development of a Practice for Resilience
The development of a resilient material practice requires the budding practitioner to overcome the same obstacles as one must to become more resilient. To begin, the neophyte to making or to a resilient practice must first
develop and identify conditions for success. They may begin by asking questions: “How do I define resilience? How resilient or self sufficient am I? ” or
“How would I rate my current making ability?” or “What do I know about this
material/craft?” Establishing a baseline through self study invites the practitioner to engage in reflection regularly to determine progress.
My reflections on practice - which were focused on new material developments in shifting waste into resource, natural and local fibers, and collaboration with others through prompts and exercises - provided the foundation upon which I could construct a series of exercises organized around the
explicit development of material practice for resilience. This material manifested in a designed outcome, a workbook/mini course oriented around the
development of improvisational making, reflection on the composition and
material potential of objects, and embedding these ways of making and
knowing into personal and community practices. See Appendix C for workbook material.
There are three fundamental objectives of the workbook. First: Establishing a
habit of developing making skills. The course covers the span of two weeks,
with participants invited to introduce the habit of making and skill development into their daily schedule- discussing the role of cues, routines, and rewards in the establishment of habits.
Second: The introduction of a fundamental shift in the participant’s value
system with regard to the objects in their life. This involves a sequence of documenting, cataloging, and categorizing to initiate awareness of what exists
around them. The sequence then leads into the development of a material
consciousness or awareness. Sennett introduces this as the craftsperson’s
efforts to do quality work are dependent on curiosity about the material.
(2008). This curiosity is translated into a sequence of studying objects for
form and material. They then progress to ideation and making, focusing on
documentation of their experience as a mode of processing and identifying
obstacles and victories. This process invites the new maker to think more critically about the resources of made objects, the components, the strengths,
as well as to consider all objects as having potential.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Third: The role of social making, or community in establishing a habit. There
are two iterations of this course, one that is oriented around workshops and
one that includes social making as a component of the individual practice. In
both of these iterations the role of community is introduced. Obstacles of indeterminacy, scarcity, and discomfort are touched upon while learning and
teaching making skills with others, and are addressed head on in the act
of improvisational making. Improvisational making exercises are based on
theater improvisation and hinge on the same principles of acceptance, both
of others and of self, and push the participant out of the comfort zone of
planning exact steps and invite responsive making that occurs when others
have equal contribution power to direct the outcome.
These three fundamental objectives prepare an individual to invite others to
develop resilient making practices. As the new practitioner exercises skills and
expresses excitement for the practice, they will naturally want to invite others to develop the same attributes and skills. New making practitioners and
their acts of resilience serve as examples to their communities. Example and
connection to community have the potential to invite others to make and
develop a personal material practice. The practical roots of improvisation
make priority of each maker, object, and material being addressed. The new
thoughts, approaches, methods, and outcomes that come naturally from
each exploration build a foundation of diverse making and knowledge generation.
Zolli & Healy emphasize the importance of diversity in resilience. They detail
organizational, cognitive, resource, and economic diversity (2014). In the example of the workbook, the importance of a reliance on informal networks,
built on deep trust, sustains efforts to build resilience that becomes embedded in daily life and relationships. It is in these spaces, according to Zolli &
Healy, resilience can flourish. The necessity for a variety of ideas and ways
of doing and knowing can be likened to the biodiversity of a forest- systems
with a singular or largely dominant species are subject to devastation if the
health of the dominant species is compromised. So it is with communities, organizations, and systems, a single, dominant way of doing leaves the system
vulnerable to collapse. “The complexity, concentration, and homogeneity of
a system can amplify its fragility; the right kinds of simplicity, localism, and
diversity can amplify its resilience,” (Zolli & Healy, 2014, p. 59).

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WHAT DO WE KNOW AND WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

4
What Do We Know and What Should We Do? (Conclusions and Recommendations)
In this thesis research three lines of inquiry have occurred:
What is practice? Here, a definition of practice was formed by the development of a material practice and subsequent reflection, as well as being
guided and refined by literature- namely the characterizations presented by
Richard Sennett and David Pye.
“The goal then need not be to produce evidence-based research or a fully
theorized position on design praxis, but to present appropriate strategies for
designers interested in interrogating the oftentimes tacit knowing of creative
practice.” - Grocott, on how understanding designerly ways of knowing can
contribute to the scholarship of design (2011, p. 4).
What is resilience? A definition of resilience was formed through empathetic
reflection and making, discussions with makers, friends, and peers, as well
as in literature- writings by Charles Duhigg, Ezio Manzini, and, in particular,
Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy.
What role does material practice have in developing resilience? This space
was investigated through material practices focusing on three main areasimprovisational making and reflection, facilitation of practice development
in others, reflection and mapping exercises, and connecting the attributes of
practice and corresponding attributes of resilience as described in literature
and from personal practice (See Appendix B).
Lisa Grocott described the importance of design research generating results
that are accessible to others through evolutionary discourse. “Multi-modal
enquiry can help the audience to potentially see things from a new perspective by advancing a new conceptualisation of the content” (2011, p. 20).
How do these investigations address the problem initially introduced? Our
world is changing and we may well be unable to adapt. We have a dependence on external sources- stores, internet services, delivery, online ordering,
all for our material well being. We look up the answer to every question on the
internet, if it can’t be found in a few seconds, it must not be worth knowing.
We want everything now and billions of dollars are spent in businesses addressing that demand. Goods come from across the ocean, while local suppliers and producers struggle to be competitive with the rock bottom pricing.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

This work is therefore presented as transitional. There is much more work
that needs to be done than individuals becoming more resilient and more
conscientious about the function, quality, and additional life-cycles available in their possessions. These practices have the potential to serve as
keystone habits and building the foundation for local hubs, or clusters, or
making, re-purposing, and upcycling.
4.1 Design For Resilience- Building Upon Individual Practice
“In their purest expression,
resilient systems may have no
baseline to return to- they may
reconfigure themselves continuously and fluidly to adapt to
ever-changing circumstances,
while continuing to fulfill their
purpose.” (Zolli & Healy, 2014, p.
13)

“In aligning designerly ways of knowing with criteria for research the design
community does not need to emulate the kinds of knowing generated by
other disciplines, but instead to be able to understand how a practitioner’s
knowing might complement the perspectives an interdisciplinary community
of researchers’ bring to the scholarship of design.” (Grocott, 2011, p. 4).
Ezio Manzini presents the next phase of resilience through social innovations,
namely in the establishment of social economy. A social economy is an answer to the issues with a growth economy, or an economy that is based on
growth as a measure of economic health. Social economies, conversely, are
structured around an economic pluriverse (defined by Estava and Escobar)
where pluriverses, or clusters, are organized in distributed networks- which
can scale from community to global. These clusters would, in essence, be
built through the foundation of meeting individual and community needs as
defined by the resilience networks shown in Fig. 49.
Manzini further argued “If, technically, resilience means diversity, redundancy,
and continuous experimentation, it also means that the corresponding society must be a diversified, creative one. Taking seriously the meaning of resilience, this compelling and deeply human image of society becomes much
more than just a wish. It indicates the direction in which, very practically, we
need to go if our society is to have any hope of lasting. In short: in a resilient
society, cultural diversity and creativity must flourish. Indeed, cultural diversity
and creativity must be an integral part of any scenarios of resilient societies.”
(Manzini, 2015, p. 22). This diversity, however, is not exclusive to the social and
cultural realms. Zolli & Healy cautioned against centralization of production
and economic growth, inviting clusters of resources, tools, ideas, and especially diversity of talent (2014, p. 12). Some regions are better suited for agriculture, others for education or fabrication, but that does not mean that the
ideas, practices, production, and goods should be separated by region. A
healthy system has a degree of redundancy and overlap (Zolli & Healy, 2014).

68

WHAT DO WE KNOW AND WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

education
fabrication
economic hub
agriculture
culture
individuals

Fig. 50 -Connection of individual habits and characteristics into a network
Clusters, as illustrated in Fig. 50, would consist of individuals and corresponding personal resiliencies, the communities that grow out of connecting individuals, and varying degrees of production- for example, agriculture or fabrication, the positioning of education (formal and informal), the economic
positioning production (potentially through hubs), and the culture that connects individuals to one another and varying aspects of the cluster.
These clusters, while numerous, would increase the transparency of the
overall system. Unlike large, top-down organizations, like centralized banks,
where information does not necessarily travel with equity through the system
so that all invested and affected parties are informed, these smaller points of
local production, fabrication, and cross cluster economic transactions, are
organized so that there can actually be a high level of accountability for production and consumption behaviors. Such practices can be seen in small
scale agriculture and Fibershed practices (Burgess, 2019).
In Zolli & Healy’s words, “The complexity, concentration, and homogeneity
of a system can amplify its fragility; the right kinds of simplicity, localism, and
diversity can amplify its resilience,” (2014, p. 59).
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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Cagla Dogan similarly makes the case for integrated design that utilizes both
local and regional production resources. This type of design practice explicitly centers upon local tastes, enterprises, encourages post-use and has the
potential to lead to new individual-material relationships. These focuses shift
away from the globally standardized goods and makes way for local job
opportunities and community development, and forces a shift in consumer
perception of the appearance, quality, function, cost, and life-cycle of goods
(n.d). Reconfiguration of our relationship to goods and materials leans heavily towards sociality and commerce that sustains an economic pluriverse.
Manzini provides two cautions that connect intimately with the provocation
of my thesis. The first being that distributed systems cannot be built without
consideration for the social and cultural fabric that they will be stitched in
and out of (2015).
Centralized systems, the global systemic norm, can be built without such
considerations, and it’s this disconnect that has caused such traumatic conflict between growth and culture (Zolli & Healy, 2014), growth and indigeneity,
growth and ecological health, growth and safety. Boehnert and Onafuwa
have described these impacts as the “isms” of symbolic violence (2016).

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WHAT DO WE KNOW AND WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

4.2 Concluding Thoughts- The Imperative of the Local Designer vs the Design
Expert
Manzini’s second caution comes in the real investment of those who intend to
initiate the establishment of these localized systems. “...no distributed system
can be implemented without social innovation: distributed solutions (such
as small scale production and use of renewable resources, localized food
networks, micro-factories) can only work if groups of dedicated people decide to adopt them and commit themselves to their implementation,” (2015,
p. 17). In essence, a system that is designed, issued, and mandated from the
outside of its function and life-cycle does not have the capacity to endure.
There is a crucial need for those who are involved and invested to initiate
these systems. Herein is the argument for the Local designer.
In these distributed, or clustered, systems, the designer is positioned as an
equal stakeholder in the impacts and consequences of design, production,
and life-cycle. The designer of the emergency shelter is now accountable for
the material acquisition- for it now occurs in their backyard. The designer is
also accountable for the social and cultural viability of the shelter, for they,
and their neighbors, have to live in them. The designer shares accountability
for the use and life cycle of the shelter with their community, for once they
have finished use of them, they cannot send it elsewhere to be disposed of.
How different would our decisions be if the majority of our goods, services,
and behaviors, had a consequence that was centralized in our own neighborhood and community. How would we prepare if we truly knew that the local agriculture would suffer with the changing temperatures in the summer,
with droughts forecasted and forest fires definite?
Scarcity of material would push designers, craftspeople, and community
members alike to invest in discovering methods of turning waste goods and
materials into resources. Innovation would come as parties of varying backgrounds, knowledge, and individual material and resilient practices would
collaborate to address issues present and inescapable to all.

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Appendix A
Collaborative Guided Making
“Sociable expertise addresses other people in their unfolding prospects just
as the artisan explores material change; one’s skill of repair is exercised as a
mentor; one’s guiding standards are transparent, that is, comprehensible to
nonexperts,” (Sennett, 2008).
Just as Sennett wrote, I too wanted to exercise the knowledge I had gained
in observation and reflection through heuristic explorations (see section 2.2).
I approached the endeavor as a collaborating mentor to a friend, visiting
Vancouver from the US. Our conversation, and my responses to my companion’s thoughts, drawings, and conclusions, resulted in a sequence of
prompts. These prompts were given as a routine of observation directed
towards an object.
My collaborator, the friend to whom I was giving prompts, is a close friend
since high school who had come to visit and was unfamiliar with most
areas of the city. She was an ideal contributor in refining the guided thinking
and making process as she did not have a pre-established relationship with
materials, objects, or people in the city.
The following numbered sequence provides detail of the prompts as they
were extended to my collaborator. Notes are included at points where my
collaborator’s response, questions, or pauses resulted in a modification to
my facilitation. Some notes also include the intention or a comment on the
outcome of the prompt.
Guided Making Prompts:
1) Choose something to look at.
2) Draw what you see.
• My friend chose to study a bicycle locked up near the bench she had
chosen to sit on. She felt comfortable studying an object that she was
familiar with and did not hesitate to try and include visual information
she felt was important.
3) Identify the different shapes that your object is made of. Are there circles?
Tubes, squares, or other non-geometric forms?
• This serves as an instigation of identifying the object as an abstract
series of shapes. Instead of being a complex system- it could be considered in one or two easily identifiable shapes to start.
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THE APPENDICES

Fig A-1 - Initial drawing study of a bike and it’s component shapes- located
on Granville Island
4) Choose a shape. What do you think you could make using that shape?
• Limiting the ideation to one shape selected from a complex object- the
bicycle- allowed for my collaborator to simplify the ideation process to a
series of building blocks.
5) If you were to start making this now, what would you need?
• Tools
• Additional materials
6) Write out your steps
• Material and tool sourcing
• Deconstruction
• Access to needed materials, space, tools
• Can you borrow what you need? Can you make an approximation?

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Fig A-2- (Top Right) Study of bicycle shapes and ideation of potential making.
(Bottom Right) Listing of tools, additional materials needed, and plan of action.

By simplifying the complex system of components to a series of shapes
provided the bridge from addressing an unapproachable object to experiencing intuitive leaps. The first leap was in recognizing a simple shape,
the second was in one or two ideas as to what would be easiest to make
with that shape. The question “What can you make with this bike?” without
building to intuitive thinking, or new ways of knowing, would undoubtedly
return the reply “Why, another bike.”

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THE APPENDICES

Fig A-3- Second iteration of component cataloging, inclusive of materials and
component characteristics
7) Re-evaluate your object, its forms, and materials. Can you use more of the
components or system to help in your making plan? Can they be used for
anything else?
• This prompt was discussed verbally- ideations were not written at this
point. The first stage of ideation was simple, a tent. By establishing a
context, my collaborator was able to notice and identify that different
parts of the bike could be allocated to cooking, laundry, and other systems that would compliment the construction of a tent.
8)Catalogue the components of the object, compile them in detail. Consider
the materials the components are made of, list the materials (or your best
guess) and characteristics of the piece.
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Additions to this guided making session, had time allowed, would have consisted of another round of making ideation using the new, more detailed catalogue, as a starting point. An idea would then be selected, making planned,
followed by the actual making and execution of the plan.
This conversation, drawing, and reflection allowed for a prototyping of how
I would conduct the guidance of an improvisational making in an informal
setting. The conversation and feedback in the moment allowed us to refine
the process and to discuss the efficacy of different stages. I will also note that
this exercise exceeded the format I had established, the repetition of cataloging and ideation were improvisations based on my observations of my
friend’s understanding and existing ability. The principle of repetition is one
common to many avenues of learning, Sennett establishes repetition as a
method of determining what has been done, and how. In this instance, the
act of repetition has the potential to invite the observer to re-evaluate the object as a collaborator in making. The components, composition, and forms
now all provide feedback directly to the observer as to what is possible. The
workbook that proceeded from these prompts is discussed in section 3.

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THE APPENDICES

Informal Guided Making
This section is told as a story through pictures and the verbal prompts that
were exchanged through a session of informal guided making.

Question: “I have these pants, do you think you could use them? I
don’t want to throw them away”
Response: “I could use them, but it would be better if I showed you
what you could do with them.”
Anxiety: “I’m not really a maker.”
Support: “Let’s make together, I think it will be easier after you’ve had
some guidance and help”

“Familiarize yourself with your object. Draw
the shapes that you observe.
Count and record how many there are. “

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

“Feel your object, find the
subtle shapes.”

“Notice that this is a tube, this
is a shape you don’t have to
sew. Think if this is a form you
want to take advantage of.”

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Revelation occurs. “I’ve been
wanting to make fabric
planters, this is perfect!”

A moment of stitching teaching is offered and received.

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The maker finds confidence.
The vision, guided by the
material form, is realized.

Torn jeans now exist as a
home for a potted plant.

THE APPENDICES

Thoughts on Collaboration
In each of the three prompted makings there was a recurring element- a
willing collaborator who accepted an invitation to learn, make, and discuss with me. It cannot be overstated the incredible role the influence and
support of others have in the development of a practice. As I considered the
development of resilience it was clear- whether a person is a confident maker or an uncertain beginner- we are more confident and more engaged in
the process when there is someone else involved.
With Jean, there was a level of generosity extended to me and my practice.
I gave her a tarp and, instead of letting her decided how she would use it, I
put a wrinkle in her plans and demanded, in friendly letters and words, that
she replace something that she used regularly.
With my visiting friend I asked if she would be willing to do project work with
me. We don’t get to visit often and I was reluctant to prioritize her or school.
She was excited for the exploration, and since the guided reflection has
reminded me every conversation that she is eager to have a copy of the
workbook that was built from our conversation. Without the space to talk
through the process, I would have missed the balancing half of developing
a practice- repetition, refinement, and reflection.
Making with Josh was a shortened repetition of the guided making exercise
conducted with my high school friend, though verbal and drawn observations were replaced with material investigation and making. Josh had offered me material that, he hoped, would provide me with research supplies.
In return it would solve a problem he’d been sitting on for the better part of
a year- what to do with pants he’d wanted to repair, but never got around
to doing? He was hesitant when I invited him to make with them instead of
giving them away.
Each of my collaborators expressed that the experience was positive. It was
not, however, habit developing. Each of them was a brief indulgence, but
did not have a lasting impact. It became very clear that one experience in
isolation of daily life was not enough to instigate a continuing practice and
lasting change.
I was able to translate these experiences with others into a surrogate of
myself in a workbook that would provide a similar, guided process though
developing a habit and beginning a personal material practice.

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Appendix B
The Role of a Material Practice in Resilience- From the Literature
This section includes reflections on practice from literature, namely from
writings by Richard Sennett and David Pye. These characteristics of practice
are correlated either to corresponding characteristics of resilience, or serve
to directly address obstacles to resilience.
What is practice?
Myself, Sennett, Pye

What is resilience/what builds resilience?
Myself, Zolli, or Duhigg

Concentration -”The ability to concentrate for long periIncreased ability to concentrate builds up other attributes
ods comes first; only when a person can do so will he or
of resilient thinking, behavior, and practice. Concenshe get involved emotionally or intellectually. The Skill of
tration orients one to focus on the long term objective.
physical concentration follows rules of its own, based on Decreased ability to concentrate on difficult or detailed
how people learn to practice, to repeat what they do, and tasks leads to a priority towards short term objectives or
to learn from repetition.” (Sennett, 2008, p. 172)
rewards.
• Ability to concentrate for long periods of time comes
first, skill comes with/after extension of focus
Rhythm- practice, repetition, anticipation (Sennett, 2008,
p. 176)

Progress and pause come in phases, learning to navigate
and work within these phases invites comfort

Knowing through making (other refs)
Improvisation and adaptation
• use of tacit knowledge- skills that are learned by doing, not by telling
• Hand motions, posture, thoughts, attention
• Foundation of need, craft, criticism, and improvisation
along with the inherent willingness to allow the doing
and making to take the lead
Path of least resistance
• Working with the tendencies and natures of matter
• Design for material vs material for the design
• Least resistance vs most resistance (potentially) (Sennett, 2008, p. 216)
-“Finding the most forgiving element in a difficult situation” (Sennett, 2008, p. 221)

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“To improve your resilience is to enhance your ability to
resist being pushed from your preferred valley, while expanding the range of alternatives that you can embrace
if you need to.” (Zolli, 7)

THE APPENDICES

What is practice? (Cont)
Myself, Sennett, Pye

What is resilience/what builds resilience? (Cont)
Myself, Zolli, or Duhigg

Knowing when to let go- letting go momentarily to get a
better view, then pick it up again
• Letting go of fear or obsession
• Letting go of control over others
• Letting go of control over exact outcome
(Sennett, 2008, p. 151)

•
•

Mindfulness (Zolli & Healy, 2013)
Emotional currency (Duhigg, 2014)

Uncertainty and fear of change or loss of control can lead
individuals and organizations to reduce external inputs to
their function and decisions.
The act of putting down a problem, or a frustration, builds
up the malleability of our expectations, allowing us to be
comfortable with a multitude of outcomes.
Making as a mode of meditation, & reflection as a mode
of meditation- take my sweater unraveling- I used a physical connection with material as a mode of groundingsweater works and felting can be a series of small case
studies that build to a larger conclusion

Intuitive leaps- reformatting, adjacency, surprise, gravityintuition that something that isn’t yet could be (Sennett,
2008, p. 209)
• “If…?” “What if…?”
• Reformatting
-Taking a familiar practice or tool and applying
it elsewhere/in a new fashion
• Adjacency
-Proximity of two things suggests use of the one
for the other, even if it was not intended for that
• Surprise
-“Surprise is a way of telling yourself that something you know can be other than you assumed”
• Gravity
-There is no magic, problems are not solved
until they are addressed
-Iteration becomes a critical component of
addressing one issue, then another (me)

Confirmation Bias- ”I got what I wanted, I’ll remember this!
When confronted with an unexpected result, however, the
information was often not committed to memory at all.”
(Zolli & Healy, 2013, p. 208)
We have a preference towards results that confirm our expectations, we might not even cognitively process results
or data that is contrary to our expectations.
The active practice of adjusting expectations and roles
of objects, increasing our comfort with unanticipated
outcomes, and an excitement for unresolved issues as opportunities to learn and develop as opposed to absolute
obstacles all coordinate as the development of practice
and resilient characteristics. We would not need to politely
ignore undesired outcomes

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What is practice? (Cont)
Myself, Sennett, Pye

What is resilience/what builds resilience? (Cont)
Myself, Zolli, or Duhigg

Awareness
• Awarenesses open avenues of tools, materials, objects, surroundings to serve as tools of curiosity and
innovation
• “This is a ____, it can do/become ____”

“To improve your resilience is to enhance your ability to
resist being pushed from your preferred valley, while expanding the range of alternatives that you can embrace
if you need to.” (Zolli & Healy, 2013, p. 7)
• Reduce material needs
• Learn to use a wider array of resources
• Invent new technology
• Modify tools from one use for another
• Learn to collaborate with others (Zolli & Healy, 2013)

Reflection
Skills may build a repeating pattern that grows into a
• “What did I do? How do I do it again? How do I not do foundation, but resilience is not built on only operating in
it again?”
the same way, with the same outcome, again and again.
• Backwards reasoning- sensation routing back
through to cause
• My hands felt like this and this happened- if I make
them feel the same way next time, the same result will
happen
• Diminishing the fear of making mistakes
• Dwelling in error longer to understand what caused
the error
(Sennett, 2008, p. 157)
• Minimum necessary power
Understanding when to push and when to pause is a
• Blind, brute force is counterproductive
key component in navigating difficult situations. There
(Sennett, 2008)
are times where power is progress and pushing through
resistance is the only path forward. There are many more
circumstances where a partnership with the material,
the person, the circumstance, the difficulty, will direct us
towards weak points that only require a light touch. If we
push first with brute force, as it were, we miss these light
touch opportunities that reduce damage or unstable
outcomes.

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Appendix C
1/3

Materials of Resilience Research Project: Exit Survey
Thank you for your participation in this research project. It was initially created to explore building resilience in preparation for difficulties or crises. This exit survey has been reformatted to give
you the opportunity to share your experience with the workbook while in a crisis, as you have
completed or attempted the exercises during a global pandemic. You are invited to share your
answers to the questions in long or short form.
1 How has your understanding of resilience changed?

2 How would you rate your personal self reliance, or ability to rely on yourself for your own needs?
Use a scale from 1-10 to indicate your response, 1 being very low, and 10 very high

3 How would you rate your problem solving skills?
Use a scale from 1-10 to indicate your response, 1 being very low, and 10 very high

4 How would you rate your current making ability?
Use a scale from 1-10 to indicate your response, 1 being very low, and 10 very high

5 What kinds of relationships do you have with the stuff in your life?

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Materials of Resilience Research Project: Entrance Survey
6 How has making helped you address a problem you can’t solve?

7 How well do you respond when something doesn’t turn out the way you expect it to?
Use a scale from 1-10 to indicate your response, 1 being very negative, and 10 very
positive

8 How hard is it for your to keep doing a task when you find it difficult to do?
Use a scale from 1-10 to indicate your response, 1 being very difficult, and 10 very easy

9 Has making helped you cope with a difficult situation in your life?

10 How difficult do you feel it would be to have a new challenge occur at this time in your life?
Use a scale from 1-10 to indicate your response, 1 being very difficult, and 10 very easy

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THE APPENDICES

Materials of
Resilience
A Workbook
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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

What is resilience? Some would propose that resilience is the ability to endure, to overcome
obstacles. Others would suggest it is mental strength and the perseverance to accomplish goals.
However we define it, resilience is a critical aspect to how we address change, loss, disappointment,
as well as how we are able to express agency in how we proceed in our own way through
uncertainty.

Introduction

Workbook Pages

It is, however, encouraged that you find others to make with you. It can feel overwhelming to learn
how to do everything we may wish to know in order to be resilient, and even self reliant. Building
a community of making can reduce the burden of knowledge and reinforce the practices and
experiences you have while making, thinking, and enjoying.

The exercises in this workbook are designed to guide the development of your personal awareness
of the things around you and what their potential is. The practice of completing daily exercises
serves to begin to embed, or internalize, a way of thinking that can allow you to see the objects
around you as systems of potential. The workbook also provides space to develop your making
skills and begin cataloging knowledge, thoughts, resources, and the results of your makings. These
exercises are intended to accompany a series of reinforcing workshops, but can be completed
without them.

Here we get to the making.

This line of thought led to the question- Why are we so unprepared? If resilience, defined by the
author, is the capacity to adjust, to endure, and to be able to solve one’s own problems, how are we
resilient against loss if our way of preparing for it is to buy something, or do nothing?

These exercises were developed in Vancouver, BC, Canada, a city in a region that sits on a fault line.
Most of the area’s inhabitants are aware that at some point in the future, natural disaster will strike
and the consequences will be severe. In our world the frequency of natural disasters has increased
dramatically in the last 50 years (ref). Unfortunately, in spite of these realities, the level of preparation
is limited largely to A) buying a kit and tucking it away to gather dust, or B) hope that nothing
happens.

So what does making have to do with resilience?

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Preparatory Reflections.................................................................................................................................... 4
Building a Habit Through Daily Practice..................................................................................................... 6
Daily Material Warm-up Tracker.................................................................................................................... 7
Pre-work: Resource Cataloging..................................................................................................................... 8
Day One: Observing, Categorizing, and Story Telling........................................................................... 10
Day Two: Social Making................................................................................................................................... 13
Day Three: Single Object Study- Forms and Shapes............................................................................. 17
Day Four: Single Object Study- Projection & Cataloging..................................................................... 20
Day Five: Single Object Study- Disassembly & Making......................................................................... 24
Day Six: Single Object Study- Full Making Exercise................................................................................. 27
Day Seven- Social Making .............................................................................................................................. 33
Day Eight: Environment Study........................................................................................................................ 39
Day Nine: Place Based Making...................................................................................................................... 43
Day Ten: Improvisations................................................................................................................................... 47
Day Eleven: Single Object Practice............................................................................................................... 51
Day Twelve: Self Directed Practice............................................................................................................... 59
Day Thirteen: Self Directed Practice............................................................................................................. 62
Day Fourteen- Social Making......................................................................................................................... 66
Additional Pages................................................................................................................................................ 72
Developing Skills- Daily Warm-up and Social Making........................................................................... 72
Putting Things Together.............................................................................................................. 72
Taking Things Apart ..................................................................................................................... 73
Simple Machines............................................................................................................................ 74
Material Identification................................................................................................................... 75
Social Making Prompts.....................................................................................................................................
Prompts
76
Improvisational Making Prompts............................................................................................. 76
Guided Making Prompts............................................................................................................. 78
Resources Chart Con’t..................................................................................................................................... 79
Introductory Catalogue.................................................................................................................................. 80
Compendium...................................................................................................................................................... 81
Shape & Form.................................................................................................................................. 81
Shape & Structure.......................................................................................................................... 82
Tool...................................................................................................................................................... 83
Additional Exercise Pages ............................................................................................................................... 84
Open Work Pages.............................................................................................................................................. 84
Social Making Pages........................................................................................................................................ 89
2

3

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These exercises are designed to guide the development of your personal awareness, the practice of
completing daily exercises serves to begin to embed, or internalize, skills and abilities into your daily
life.
As you begin the process of using making to become more resilient, please consider the following:

Evaluation- is the point where you take the materials you have selected, in this workbook it will be objects
from your surroundings, and familiarizing yourself with them and compiling lists and characterizations of
what the objects are- material, form, components, etc.

Prompt- serves as the initiation of the making action- this can be materials, objects, needs, interests, and
anything else that serves to inspire and begin the process of making.

Preparatory Reflections

What does resilience mean to me?

Ideation- follows evaluation. It is important to first become familiar with your chosen object and resource.
As you plan your making and explore potentials you use the form and character of the material as the
foundation for your ideas, instead of trying to force what’s available into what you want.

Making- comes after ideation, but does not require that ideation is complete. Reaction and improvisation are
critical aspects of the material directing the making process. It is through making and responding that you
will begin to develop the ability to process failure, uncertainty, scarcity (not always having what you think you
need), and discomfort.

ideation

-material
-object
-environment
-community
-need
-interest

prompt

What do I want to accomplish in order to become more resilient or self reliant?

reflection
-responding to
failure
-skill refinement
-iteration
-invitation
-recontextualizing

making
-disassembly
-improvisation
-reaction
-redirection
-material & process led

-context
-need
-problem solving
-projection

-catagorization
-cataloguing
-characterization
-potential mapping
-appropriateness

evaluation

What relationships do I need to change in order to become more resilient?

What obstacles do I have to becoming more resilient or self reliant?

How can I overcome those obstacles?

The next two weeks consist of 2 weeks of daily exercises where you will be invited to practice and
learn skills, improvise while making, and navigate uncertainty and adaptation. There will also be
three days where you will be invited to make with others. The first week is structured to aid you in
practicing “informed making.” You will also be developing “material awareness,” which can be
described as developing an awareness of what objects occupy your life, what they are made of,
and what they can be. This builds the capacity to move past a static relationship with objects, e.g..
“This is my couch. This is my cabinet.”, and shift to “This couch is _____, has _____, and if I take it apart, I
can make _____.” The second week focuses on continuing your practice in informed making and will
help you practice addressing the obstacles you may face in learning and taking on new challenges.

4

5

Reflection- is how you will begin to recognize how you are becoming more resilient. You will also use your
reflection to help refine and direct the next iteration of making- where you will set goals and decide new
avenues to explore

What is the role of self reliance in my resilience?

Informed Making Cycle- The informed making cycle is the foundation upon which you will begin to build your
own practice of material exploration. Each phase of the cycle is step in building your awareness of the objects
and resources around you.

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Building a Habit Through Daily Practice
Each day spend at least 20 minutes to an hour for the exercise. The exercises are most beneficial if
you take at least 45 minutes. It will feel difficult to commit time each day, but the more you practice,
the easier it will be to focus and enjoy the process. Each exercise builds on the previous exercise,
please do not move on to the next exercise before completing the previous. Complete an exercise
each day. At the end of each exercise write the date of completion and the time you took to
complete it. Use pages 72-75 to help you.

Daily Material Warm-up Exercises
One of the primary objectives of this workbook, and most especially this experiment, is to establish a
habit, or a practice, of working with material in your life. In order to establish a habit there are three
components that we need- Cue, Routine, and Reward.
An example of a habit would be: You need your keys to get back into the house at the end of the
night so you leave them on the table by the door so you do not forget to take them with you.
Cue: Something that reminds us to complete an action. The cue in the example is leaving your keys
on the table by the door. Seeing the keys reminds you to put them in your pocket. If the keys aren’t
on the table, you will most likely not remember to put them in your pocket. Our brains need cues to
trigger habitual action.
Routine: The steps we take to complete an action, these are generally the same each time we
complete the action. The routine in the example is when you pick up the keys off the table and put
them in your pocket. The actions of picking them up and putting them in your pocket can often be
completed without us being aware of them happening.
Reward: The positive result of a habit that reinforces our desire to complete the habit again. The
reward in the action is being able to unlock the door at night. If the habit of placing the keys on the
table to create a cue is not completed, the habit of putting them in your pocket is not completed
and you are forced to call your landlord at 2am and explain that you’ve gotten locked out and your
roommate won’t wake up.
As you create a cue- or a reminder- to do the routine of practicing a material skill each day you
will be able to train your brain, your body, and your eyes to work together. As you strengthen your
skills and your habits, you’ll be able to use skills as a second nature and begin learning new skills, or
focusing on new ways to make. Choose a skill from pages 72-75 to practice for 5-10 minutes each
day- even if you aren’t able to complete the daily exercises. These warm ups do not have to happen
at the same time as your exercises, but will provide you with the reward of knowing you have
become stronger and more confident in order to take on a new exercise. Use the chart on page 7 to
keep track of your daily material warm-up exercises.
6

Description of Warm-up

Daily Material Warm-up Tracker
Date

7

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THE APPENDICES

Pre-work: Resource Cataloging

Tools

Materials

Date

Skills

Time used

Community

Before beginning the exercises, take time to catalogue your resources. List the tools and skills you
already have. Maybe you have a hammer and nails, maybe you have lots of paper and string,
maybe you are very talented at identifying different plants. Please also note the people in your
community who are resources. You may know people with lots of skills who would almost certainly
be happy to teach you. You may know people who are creative and resourceful who inspire you or
make you laugh.
Feel free to continue to add to this list as you progress through the exercises. There is an extra chart
on page 79.

8

In your pre-work exercise you were invited to include your community- those with
whom you are creative, those whom you can teach, and those who can teach
you. The second day will involve an act of social making. Find at least one other
person who can make with you on Day Two. This person doesn’t have to be
someone you know well, just someone who would like to make with you- you can
even invite more if you’d like! You will also want to start collecting materials that
you can make with. In the first Social Making exercise you will practice different
making skills and begin to learn how to use improvisation in making.

You will also be developing the skills of deconstructing objects, or taking them
apart, and learning how to put things back together. Practicing these skills with
someone else will make it less intimidating to dissect and bring new life to objects
that you might have thrown away. After all- didn’t Frankenstein have Igor?

Day One will help you begin to categorize and study the objects around you, be on
the lookout for what you might want to set aside for Day Two.

9

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Day One: Observing, Categorizing, and Story Telling
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise
Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

10

Day One: Observing, Categorizing, and Story Telling

Look at the objects that occupy a space in your life. You can start at home, work, school, or in
places of play. You will spend the next 5 days focusing on this space. Begin to categorize what you
find in the space below and on the next page. Consider how you use them, how they’re intended to
be used, the shape, material, similar shapes and forms. Think about where the objects might have
come from, or where the material that was used to make them originated from. Consider where the
objects might go when you don’t have a use for them anymore. Use these suggestions, and any
other way you feel you would like to group the objects and material around you.

11

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Other things to consider: Are they everyday objects? Or are they uncommon with a specialized
purpose? Is the object a necessity and you can’t live without it? Or is it a luxury that you enjoy
having? Is it something you use regularly? Or does it just sit on the shelf? Does it have emotional
value?

Date

Time used

For Day Two- select some of your observed materials and resources to use for your social making.
Think about materials that are easy or exciting to make with- fabric, rope, tools, old furniture, etc.
Think also about what objects you would like to study with the person you have invited.

12

Day Two: Social Making
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

13

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Day Two: Social Making
With a friend, or more than one friend, find a safe space to make. In this space you are invited to
develop skills that will become a foundation of your making. For this first social making exercise
you will focus on skill building and practicing improvisation in making. 30 minutes for each portion
will give you adequate time to practice, though 45 minutes for each portion will ensure you have
enough time to practice, reflect, write, and discuss together.

Skill Building
Choose a skill to practice from pages 72-75 . You may also choose to practice another making skill
not included in this workbook. Practice this skill until you feel you can use it without using a guide. As
you have time, choose more skills to practice until your 30-45 minutes are up.
Use the space below to detail the skills you have practiced. What was easy? What was difficult?
What goals can you set to keep practicing?

14

Improvisations

Improvisation in theater is built on listening to others and exercising non-judgment, and that
includes judgment of yourself. These exercises are intended to help you, and those you’ve invited
to make with you, learn how to accept that we don’t always have control over how things turn out
and to practice responding to the unexpected. You will also be able to practice building with other
people instead of against them as plans change.

For the next 30-45 minutes gather your making materials and choose an improvisational exercise
from pages 76-77. Each improvisation will take 5-15 minutes depending on how many people you
have invited. Feel free to create and record your own improvisational exercises.
Use the space below to sketch and describe your improvisations. Record your makings, innovations,
questions, observations, and any surprises you may have encountered.

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THE APPENDICES

How do you think social making can help you become more resilient? What do you feel were your
obstacles, if any, in becoming more resilient?

Date

Time used

How do you plan to continue practicing what you’ve learned during this making exercise for the rest
of this week? Write out your practice plans, detail skills you want to develop or practice, any tools
you want to become familiar with, and any materials you are curious about. You may also want to
include your daily warm-ups in this plan.

16

Day Three: Single Object Study- Forms and Shapes
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

17

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Day Three: Single Object Study- Forms and Shapes
Now that you have spent time familiarizing yourself with the objects around you, choose one to
study. This study is intended to begin the process of determining the function, composition, and new
life of the object. It would be wise to choose something that you no longer have a use for, would like
to throw away or get rid of, or would like to replace at some point in the near future. You may also
choose something that you would like to learn more about, or study in great detail. Note that this
object will be taken apart on Day Four.
Why did you choose this particular object?

Once you have chosen your object, draw it in detail in the box below.

18

x6

3” x 1

4x20”

x1

Time used

Look at the object again. What shapes do you see? Redraw the object as a series of shapes.
Catalogue and list the shapes. How many of each shape are there? Consider different sizes or
unexpected places where you might find shapes or forms. A tube is a very long cylinder, it can be
viewed as a line, a circle, even a series of joined lines.

Shape, Size, Qty
Ex:
10”
1” x 2

Date

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Day Four: Single Object Study- Projection & Cataloging
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise
Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

20

Day Four: Single Object Study- Projection & Cataloging

21

If you were to build one of these forms today, what other materials would you need? Create a list of
other materials, tools, and resources you would need to gather to execute your plan.

Study your object again and review the previous exercise. Choose a shape, or a series of shapes
from your shape and form study. What could you make? Use the box below to sketch ideas. Use the
compendium on page 81 to help with forms and to organize your ideas.

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Once you have explored a scenario, take time to examine other parts of the object that you may
have overlooked. Could they be also be used? Example: If you had chosen to build a tent, other
parts of the object could be used for cooking, or for bedding. Draw your ideas and continue to
explore how you could use multiple parts of the object for the same or different scenarios. You may
use the compendium on page 81 to help you with ideas.

22

Component

Metal- aluminum

Material

Use/Application

Time used

Frame- part of
Triangle shape,
structure,
tube, rigid, cannot drying
rack, wall
disassemble without
cutting

Characteristics

Begin to catalogue all of the object’s components. Describe the component, the material, the
characteristics, and the potential use or application. If you are not able to disassemble the object
at this time, complete the exercise without disassembly, but it is recommended you also choose an
object you’re able to take apart and fully catalogue. This is an opportunity to

Ex:
Bike Frame

Date

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Day Five: Single Object Study- Disassembly & Making
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise
Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

24

Day Five: Single Object Study- Disassembly & Making

25

Some words of encouragement: We can explore challenges by working with materials. These
explorations have the potential for failure. Through the navigation of failure we are able to develop
the emotional responses needed to make sense of these challenges. Arts and crafts provide safe
space to practice failure, to develop emotional capacity to access innovation and exploration within
and through failure. It also allows for thinking outside of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ interpretations of outcome.
Not all plans will work out as you expect them to, these changes in expectation are an opportunity
to become more resilient by adjusting expectations, or changing your plans to better compliment
the outcome.

Find a space and make!

After you’ve made your plan compile what you feel you need to make. If you don’t have the tools
you feel you need to make, consider your resource chart- is there anyone who could lend you the
tools you need? Can you approximate the tool or use a substitute?

Now that you have developed your skills in study, cataloging, and idea projection, you will proceed
to the next stage of taking action on one of your plans. Choose one of your making ideas from the
previous exercise. Use the space below to create a making plan. Sketch what components you
need, what tools, other materials, etc.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Date

Time used

Use the space below to draw, think, document your experience, write questions, your frustrations.
Everything you experience in this making exercise is the beginning of your personal practice of
making and becoming resilient. Journaling will provide you with the opportunity to reflect and record
your experience. It will provide context for your future explorations and development.

26

Day Six: Single Object Study- Full Making Exercise
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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Day Six: Single Object Study- Full Making Exercise
Review the last 5 days, you will be completing all of the steps detailed in days 3-5 again today.
Choose an object that you want to study and make with. Draw the object below

Use the space below to detail the shapes and forms of the object

28

Choose shapes and forms and sketch your making ideas using those shapes

Choose one of your making ideas, what tools, materials, and resources do you need to make it?
Detail other ways you can use other components of the object.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Component

Material

Catalogue in detail the object’s components

30

Characteristics

Use/Application

Create your plan for making. Please also document your making and skill practices. Write down any
questions, reflections, and learning.

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Date

Time used

Tomorrow you will conduct another social making exercise, set any goals below for how you want
to practice the skills you developed this week, what you could teach, what you want to learn, and
how you can use them to make with others.

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Day Seven- Social Making
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Day Seven- Social Making
With a friend, or more than one friend, find a safe space to make. In this space you are invited to
develop skills that will become a foundation of your making. For this second social making exercise
you will focus on skill building, improvisation in making, and purpose driven making. 20-30 minutes
for each portion will give you adequate time to practice, though 30 minutes for each portion will
ensure you have enough time to practice, reflect, write, and discuss together.

Skill Building
Choose a skill to practice from pages 72-75. You may also choose to practice another making skill
not included in this workbook. Practice this skill until you feel you can use it without using a guide. As
you have time, choose more skills to practice until your 30-45 minutes are up.
Use the space below to detail the skills you have practiced. What was easy? What was difficult?
What goals can you set to keep practicing?

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Improvisations

For the next 20-30 minutes gather your making materials and choose an improvisational exercise
from pages 76-77 . Each improvisation will take 5-15 minutes depending on how many people you
have invited. Feel free to create and record your own improvisational exercises.

Use the space below to sketch and describe your improvisations. Record your makings, innovations,
questions, observations, and any surprises you may have encountered.

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Purpose Driven Making
Purpose driven making is structured as an open ended making exercise. What you make is
dependent on what materials you have at hand, the people you’re making with, and how you
interpret the purpose or need. You will have built throughout the week that will have strengthened
your ability to now address scarcity and need through making.
In this new action you will choose a prompt from page 78. You may choose to print them as prompt
cards and draw one as a surprise prompt. When you choose the prompt you and those you’ve
invited to make will use your skills of putting things together, taking them apart, simple machines,
and anything else you have learned to make something that serves that purpose. Take 20-30
minutes to make. If you find you have accomplished the goal to the group’s satisfaction, choose
another prompt and make again until your time has ended.
Detail your making below. how did you respond to the prompt? What materials did you use? What
skills did you use and exercise? What are your observations from the making?

36

Date

Time used

37

Take a moment to discuss with your making companions your collective and individual experiences
in this social making exercise. How has today’s experience, and the exercises this week, developed
you outside of the making? What do you now feel you can do as a result of these practices and new
habits?

How do you plan to continue practicing what you’ve learned during this making exercise for the rest
of this week? Write out your practice plans, detail skills you want to develop or practice, any tools
you want to become familiar with, and any materials you are curious about. You may also want to
include your daily warm-ups in this plan.

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38

Last week you practiced observation, evaluation, ideation, making, reflection, and
then repeated the cycle by starting to build your own prompts. This week you will
find yourself seeking out new environments to study and you will begin to lean
more on your improvisational skills. If you have taken the time to practice making
skills each day, you will find it is much easier to worry less about how you’re
making, and you can focus more on where you are and what you have available
too. You may also find that you have identified more obstacles to feeling you have
succeeded in making.
This week will also place you in positions to address obstacles and to think more
specifically about using making, improvisation, and an awareness with what is
around you as a means of solving problems and overcoming obstacles.
I invite you to think, as well, about how you will continue your making and practice
after you have completed the exercises in this workbook.

Day Eight: Environment Study
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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Day Eight: Environment Study
Choose an environment you would like to study. Environments are complex systems filled with many
objects and beings. You have previously studied your home environment. Opportunities to make,
explore, study, and solve problems come in all places around us. Choose an environment that is
interesting to you, or one that you spend a great deal of time in. Beaches, parks, backyards, offices,
friend and family homes are all environments you might study.
You may not always be able to choose where you are when you have a need that can be answered
through making. This exercise is an invitation to transition from needing a specific place to make to
recognizing that making can occur anywhere.
In the space below catalogue the objects and being inhabiting the environment. Use the skills you
have previously exercised to describe and organize what you see and find.

40

Can you make with just the materials and objects in your environment? What else do you feel you
need to make? How can you adjust your ideas to work with the environment instead of against it?

41

Use the space below to detail the objects and beings you feel are helpful in making. What could you
make with them?

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Date

Time used

Use the space below to plan what you will make. You may find it useful to use previous days as a
model for how you can approach this new space. Document your making and reflections about
the experience of making somewhere new. What was difficult? What was unexpected? Write down
any questions, reflections, and learning.

42

Day Nine: Place Based Making
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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Day Nine: Place Based Making
Choose a new environment you would like to make in. You may bring tools and materials with you,
but you are encouraged to limit what you bring with you and what you intend to leave behind.
In the space below catalogue the objects and being inhabiting the environment. Use the skills you
have previously exercised to describe and organize what you see and find.

44

45

Can you make with just the materials and objects in your environment? What else do you feel you
need to make? How can you adjust your ideas to work with the environment instead of against it?

Use the space below to detail the objects and beings you feel are helpful in making. What could you
make with them? Do you have specific needs in this environment? How can your makings meet your
needs?

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Plan and document your making below. Be aware of what is permissible to use- are there certain
objects or materials you need to ask permission to use? Are there things that you should not use
or inappropriate for you to use? If you are making in an environment that is shared with others,
consider how what you make contributes to the way others use the space. If it obstructs how they
use it, what is the reason for obstructing their use? Does this build your community?

Date

Time used

You are encouraged to use the skills you have developed from previous exercises- you may choose
to use them as a reference or model for your making today.

46

Day Ten: Improvisations
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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Day Ten: Improvisations

Useful Shape

Substitution

Tools: We often avoid making or taking on challenges because we feel we do not have the
appropriate tools, use the table below to study 4 different tools you feel you need in order to make.
Draw the tool and describe how it is used. Draw how it is useful, does it have a specific shape- like
the screwdriver? What can you use as a substitute? Do you have materials or objects around you
that can approximate the tool? You may use page 83 as a reference or starting point if you are
uncertain.

Tool

Speed Making: Find a place to make
Set a timer for 1 minute- find something (object or material) to make with before the timer goes off.
Set your timer for 2 minutes- make something with what you found before the timer goes off.
Use the space below to document your making. What did you learn about sourcing materials?

48

Speed Making: Find a new place to make
Set a timer for 5 minutes- Collect your making materials before the timer goes off.
Set your timer for 15 minutes- make something with what you found before the timer goes off.

49

Speed Making: Find a new place to make and choose a skill you want to practice, if your skill
involves specific tools be sure to have them prepared before starting the exercise
Set a timer for 5 minutes- Collect your making materials before the timer goes off.
Set your timer for 20 minutes- make using only the materials you collected and the skill you want to
practice.
Use the space below to document your making.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Date

Time used

In this exercise you were prompted to address new environments and scarcity of materials, time,
and tools. Reflect on your experience. What was difficult? What was easy? How do you think these
exercises might aid you in becoming more resilient? What skills do you now wish to practice? Note
that the more you practice a skill, the easier it is for it to be second nature.

50

Day Eleven: Single Object Practice
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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Day Eleven: Single Object Practice
Repetition of exercises is critical in the further development of skills, abilities, and awarenesses.
You will have grown significantly since you last studied a single object. Take note of the things you
recognize now that you may not have before. Choose an object that you want to study and make
with. Draw the object below

Use the space below to detail the shapes and forms of the object

52

Choose shapes and forms and sketch your making ideas using those shapes

Choose one of your making ideas, what tools, materials, and resources do you need to make it?
Detail other ways you can use other components of the object.

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Component

Material

Catalogue in detail the object’s components

54

Characteristics

Use/Application

Create your plan for making. Document your making and skill practices. Write down any questions,
reflections, and learning.

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Date

Time used

What have you learned since the last time you completed this exercise? How do you feel you have
changed as a maker? What do you feel you still want, or need, to learn? Reflect on your experience
this far and set goals for how you will proceed.

56

During the next two days you will begin to structure your own exercises. You
will continue to conduct your daily warm-ups, but you will only have a lightly
structured format to follow. Consider the exercises that you enjoyed, or felt were
the most beneficial.

Perhaps you have objects at home that you realize you want to replace, or are not
longer functional- you might choose to use them as the prompt for your exercise
and try to figure out how they can still be useful, or what other ways you might use
them.

Maybe there is a beautiful park in a neighborhood near a friend’s house and you’d
like to invite them to come make with you in a new environment.

This portion of the workbook is built as an invitation to begin structuring how your
own practice will continue after completion of the exercises.

Resilience is not built on one experience, but is the foundation that comes from
daily choices and practices that will hold you steady in times of difficulty.

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Day Twelve: Self Directed Practice
Daily Material Warm-up Exercise
Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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Day Twelve: Self Directed Practice

In the following sections detail the focus of your exercise. You may choose to make with an object,
or several objects. You may want to practice in a new environment. Perhaps you want to practice
making with others, or try a new skill.
Exercise Focus
-What do you want
to do?
Objective or Goals
-What do you want
to accomplish?

-What will you use?

Tools & Skills
-What do you need
and what are you
practicing?

Materials

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Use the next two pages to structure and document your making and practice.

60

Date

Time used

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Day Thirteen: Self Directed Practice

Day Thirteen: Self Directed Practice

Exercise Focus
-What do you want
to do?
Objective or Goals
-What do you want
to accomplish?

-What will you use?

Tools & Skills
-What do you need
and what are you
practicing?

Materials

63

In the following sections detail the focus of your exercise. You may choose to make with an object,
or several objects. You may want to practice in a new environment. Perhaps you want to practice
making with others, or try a new skill.

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

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Use the next two pages to structure and document your making and practice.

64

Date

Time used

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Daily Material Warm-up Exercise

Day Fourteen- Social Making

Day Fourteen- Social Making

Use the space below for your daily material warm-up exercise. You may use this space to work
through the skills and to note thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.

Use the space below to detail the skills you have practiced. What was easy? What was difficult?
What goals can you set to keep practicing?

67

Choose a skill to practice from pages 72-75. You may also choose to practice another making skill
not included in this workbook. Practice this skill until you feel you can use it without using a guide. As
you have time, choose more skills to practice until your 30-45 minutes are up.

Skill Building

With a friend, or more than one friend, find a safe space to make. In this space you are invited to
develop skills that will become a foundation of your making. For this last social making exercise you
will focus on skill building, improvisation in making, and purpose driven making. 20-30 minutes for
each portion will give you adequate time to practice, though 30 minutes for each portion will ensure
you have enough time to practice, reflect, write, and discuss together.

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For the next 20-30 minutes gather your making materials and choose an improvisational exercise
from pages 76-77. Each improvisation will take 5-15 minutes depending on how many people you
have invited. Feel free to create and record your own improvisational exercises.

Improvisations

Purpose Driven Making

Use the space below to sketch and describe your improvisations. Record your makings, innovations,
questions, observations, and any surprises you may have encountered.

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69

Choose a prompt from page 78. You may choose to print them as prompt cards and draw one as
a surprise prompt. When you choose the prompt you and those you’ve invited to make will use your
skills of putting things together, taking them apart, simple machines, and anything else you have
learned to make something that serves that purpose. Take 20-30 minutes to make. If you find you
have accomplished the goal to the group’s satisfaction, choose another prompt and make again
until your time has ended.
Detail your making below. how did you respond to the prompt? What materials did you use? What
skills did you use and exercise? What are your observations from the making?

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How do you plan to continue practicing what you’ve learned during this making exercise for the rest
of this week? Write out your practice plans, detail skills you want to develop or practice, any tools
you want to become familiar with, and any materials you are curious about. You may also want to
include your daily warm-ups in this plan.

70

Take a moment to discuss with your making companions and record your collective and individual
experiences during the last two weeks. How do you feel you have changed? What do you now feel
you can do as a result of these practices and new habits? What do you want to do now as a result
of this experience?

How do you intend to continue your making practice? What are your goals?

Time used

Note that there are additional social making and self directed open work pages on pages 84-100.

Date

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Additional Pages
Taking Things Apart-

Developing Skills- Daily Warm-up and Social Making
Skills

Tools: Flathead and Philips screwdrivers, shop knife, hammer, gloves, goggles,

73

As you make more with the things you have taken apart, you’ll be able to make, and the more you
make, the more you’ll be able to identify what is useful when you’re taking things apart.

5. Try putting it back together! You’ll learn twice as much taking it apart and putting it back together
as you would if you just took it apart or put it together.

4. Remove everything that only takes a step or two. Start slow, with parts that you can remove easily.
As you grow stronger in your skill you will be able to see more points where things can be taken
apart or separated.

Parts you can remove: fasteners, nuts and bolts, clips, rivets, buttons, handles
Spots to look for: edges between parts, seams,

3. Identify the basic parts. Are there doors, legs, covers? Look around for screws, seams, buttonsanything that you can begin with.
Example: If you’re taking apart an old pair of pants, you would turn them inside out and
see where the seams are.
Ex: If you’re taking apart a wooden chair, turn the chair upside down and see if there are
any screws you can remove
Ex: If you’re taking apart a piece of electronics, look up instructions first, there may be parts
containing electricity you should be aware of.

2. Unplug everything!

1. Identify what you want to take apart. If you know what it is, you can confirm if it is safe to take
apart.

Anything involving tools can be dangerous, exercise caution and care

Skills are defined as four different categories- understanding how to put things together, how to take
things apart, understanding and using simple machines, and how to identify different materials.

Putting Things Togetherwww.netknots.com
-has an incredible library of knots that have videos, picture, and text instructions. Go to
their website and choose knots to learn. Knots that connect pieces of rope together, lashing knots,
and stop knots are all very useful. Explore stop knots, binding and lashing, hitch, and bend knots.
Choose a knot to practice. Go throughout your home and tie the knot in different places and with
different materials. Complete the knot successfully 10, 20, 30 times. Repeat the knot as many times
and with as many different materials until you can tie it without thinking.
Think of something you want to make- can you think of how to make it using knots instead of nails,
screws, or other fasteners? Practice lashing knots to tie two poles or cylinders together. Bamboo
chairs are made by lashing together bamboo poles. What could you join together with these knots?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastener
-has a long list of pieces that connect two different objects or parts together. Fasteners
hold together almost everything. Find out what fasteners you have in your home, see what you can
use them to assemble.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodworking_joints
-Joinery is another way to connect things together. It consistes of fingers of wood that hold
the pieces together. Choose a type of joinery and try to use it to connect two different objects or
pieces.

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Simple Machines-

Lever- the force you apply (the down
arrow) is amplified in the lift (the up
arrow). This helps you lift things heavier
than you can by hand. The length of the
lever influences the amplification. Try it!
Example: Scissors, wheelbarrows, and
see-saws

Ramps & Wedges- ramps and wedges
decrease the force required to move an object
up a height (ramp), or to reduce the amount of
force required to split something (wedge)

Pulley- pulleys can increase the force
you’re pulling with, the number of wheels
determines how much the force is
multiplied by

Gear- You can use the gear or the axle to
increase speed or force. Turning around
the axle controls speed, turning around
the wheel controls force.
Screw- it’s like a ramp around a rod. The
direction the ramp rotates determines
which direction it moves when the screw
is turned.

Rolling Rods- Heavy objects can be moved
using rods when no wheel and axle are
available. The rods need to be replaced
under the object as it moves forward.

Wheel & Axle- Two disks rotating around
a rod make wheel and axle.

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Material Identification-

Material

Appearance

Characteristics

Use your own knowledge of materials to begin filling out this chart. If there are materials that you’re
not sure about, look them up, or find an object made of that material and write down what you
observe. These are very general categories, feel free to add more specifics or glue in additional
pages.

Metal

Plastic

Wood

Glass

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Improvisational Making Prompts

Freeze

Alternative: The receiver gives ideas of what the material
or object could be made into, coming up with as many ideas
as possible in a minute. The giver and receiver then swap lines.

Rhythmic Word Association

Choose an object or material to place in the middle of your group standing in a circle. Start a
rhythm, you might keep time by clapping or stamping. Each person takes turn on the beat to say
what could be made from the object or material. The goal is to continue on beat for as long as
possible.

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This is a game of taking turns giving prompts, and receiving and responding through making.
Collect making materials and objects into a box, choose a wide variety of materials. Select an empty
box to use in addition. Depending on how many people you have, stand in two lines on either side of
the materials. One line acts as the giver, the other acts as the receiver. The giver line takes the box to
the materials and selects something to put in the box secretly. The giver then gives the box, the gift,
to the receiver. The receiver opens the box and begins making with what is found inside. The receiver
has 2-5 minutes to make with the material. They then place the made object in the making materials
box. The giver then goes to the receiver line and the maker to the giver. The cycle is then repeated.
The giver may choose made objects to put into the box.

Freeze!

These prompts were compiled as individual cards and exercises were chosen for use in the
workshop based on group investment and abilities. These prompts provide the setup, variations,
and objective of each improv exercise. They are variations of theater improv exercises modified
to facilitate making. You are invited to look up other improvisational games and see how you can
modify them to practice improvisational making

HatsThis is a game of taking turns and responding to the unexpected through making. Collect making
materials and objects into two box, choose a wide variety of materials. Depending on the number
of people, make a line by each box. A person from each line draws something from the box without
looking. The two then take their object or material and use it to build together in the center. Each pair
has one minute to make, then the next pair takes their turn pulling from the boxes and making for
one minute. Continue making for as long as you can. You may disassemble the object in the middle
and redistribute the materials and objects at any time and start the making again.

One Word Story (Or One Action Making)
This game is an act of building and responding to the decisions of others. Have a collection of
making materials and objects in the center of you and your making companions in a circle. In One
Word Story, someone starts the story by saying the first word, the next person then adds to the
story with one word. The story continues around the circle until you all decide the story is done. The
same is done with the making, one person starts making by selecting material or an object from
the center, they then have 30 seconds to make before the object is passed to the next person in the
circle. The game is played best when those participating do not decide what action they will take
before their turn, but respond to what has been done in the moment they take their turn.
You may stop the making cycle when you collectively feel you have completed your object.

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The Gift

This is a game of responding to a sudden change in intention, it is best for more than 2 people.
Gather your making materials and objects in the center and start the making with two people in
the middle. The first person to say what they’re making decides the pair’s action while they make. If
a person says “refrigerator”, the pair then begins making a “refrigerator.” Though something a bit
less specific is easier, say “Something that has five legs”. Those who are not making should allow
for a minute or two of making before calling “Freeze!” The two makers then freeze immediately and
one person hops in to tag a maker out. The new maker then says what the pair are making and the
making cycle begins again.

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MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Guided Making Prompts

is

can

reach up high
send a message
defend
lift something else
hold water
help things grow
be loud
communicate
folded into something else

warm
comfortable
for napping
for thinking
for having conversation
protective
spiky
useful
not useful

dispose
make someone laugh
move things
cover 4 people
wake someone up
be played with
help clean
push
pull

round
square
tall
strong
soft
comforting
inspiring
funny

These prompts were compiled as individual cards and drawn at random to prompt
the purpose driven group making stage of the workshop.

Something that

Something that

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Materials

Resources Chart Con’t
Tools

Skills

Community

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The hexagon

The triangle is one of the strongest
shapes as the angles of the triangle
cannot be changed without
breaking the triangle. It is used in
building supports and trusses

Stress is distributed equally along
a circle, or an arc (half of a circle)
and is not concentrated at any one
point. This makes it the strongest
structural shape.

The square, and rectangle,

Introductory Catalogue
Shapes and Forms

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Compendium
Shape

Lean-to shelter

Structure

A-frame shelter

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Shape

Compendium

82

Structure

Compendium
Tool
Flat head screwdriver

Philips screwdriver

Useful Shape
Thin flat bar

Cross

Substitution

Coin, butterknife

83

132

THE APPENDICES

In the following sections detail the focus of your exercise. You may choose to make with an
object, or several objects. You may want to practice in a new environment. Perhaps you
want to practice making with others, or try a new skill.

Open Work Pages

Use this page to structure and document your making and practice.

Open Work Pages

Exercise Focus
-What do you want
to do?
Objective or Goals
-What do you want
to accomplish?

-What will you use?

Tools & Skills
-What do you need
and what are you
practicing?

Materials

84

85

133

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

In the following sections detail the focus of your exercise. You may choose to make with an
object, or several objects. You may want to practice in a new environment. Perhaps you
want to practice making with others, or try a new skill.

Open Work Pages

Use this page to structure and document your making and practice.

Open Work Pages

Exercise Focus
-What do you want
to do?
Objective or Goals
-What do you want
to accomplish?

-What will you use?

Tools & Skills
-What do you need
and what are you
practicing?

Materials

86

87

134

THE APPENDICES

Open Work Pages

Social Making Pages

-What will you use?

Use the space below to detail the skills you have practiced. What was easy? What was difficult?
What goals can you set to keep practicing?

89

Choose a skill to practice from pages 72-75. You may also choose to practice another making skill
not included in this workbook. Practice this skill until you feel you can use it without using a guide. As
you have time, choose more skills to practice until your 30-45 minutes are up.

Skill Building

In the following sections detail the focus of your exercise. You may choose to make with an
object, or several objects. You may want to practice in a new environment. Perhaps you
want to practice making with others, or try a new skill.

88

Materials

Tools & Skills
-What do you need
and what are you
practicing?

Objective or Goals
-What do you want
to accomplish?

Exercise Focus
-What do you want
to do?

With a friend, or more than one friend, find a safe space to make. In this space you are invited to
develop skills that will become a foundation of your making. For this last social making exercise you
will focus on skill building, improvisation in making, and purpose driven making. 20-30 minutes for
each portion will give you adequate time to practice, though 30 minutes for each portion will ensure
you have enough time to practice, reflect, write, and discuss together.

135

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Social Making Pages
Purpose Driven Making

Social Making Pages

91

Detail your making below. how did you respond to the prompt? What materials did you use? What
skills did you use and exercise? What are your observations from the making?

Choose a prompt from page 78. You may choose to print them as prompt cards and draw one as
a surprise prompt. When you choose the prompt you and those you’ve invited to make will use your
skills of putting things together, taking them apart, simple machines, and anything else you have
learned to make something that serves that purpose. Take 20-30 minutes to make. If you find you
have accomplished the goal to the group’s satisfaction, choose another prompt and make again
until your time has ended.

Improvisations
For the next 20-30 minutes gather your making materials and choose an improvisational exercise
from pages 76-77. Each improvisation will take 5-15 minutes depending on how many people you
have invited. Feel free to create and record your own improvisational exercises.
Use the space below to sketch and describe your improvisations. Record your makings, innovations,
questions, observations, and any surprises you may have encountered.

90

136

THE APPENDICES

Social Making Pages

Social Making Pages

Use the space below to detail the skills you have practiced. What was easy? What was difficult?
What goals can you set to keep practicing?

93

Choose a skill to practice from pages 72-75. You may also choose to practice another making skill
not included in this workbook. Practice this skill until you feel you can use it without using a guide. As
you have time, choose more skills to practice until your 30-45 minutes are up.

Skill Building

With a friend, or more than one friend, find a safe space to make. In this space you are invited to
develop skills that will become a foundation of your making. For this last social making exercise you
will focus on skill building, improvisation in making, and purpose driven making. 20-30 minutes for
each portion will give you adequate time to practice, though 30 minutes for each portion will ensure
you have enough time to practice, reflect, write, and discuss together.

92

How do you plan to continue practicing what you’ve learned during this making exercise for the rest
of this week? Write out your practice plans, detail skills you want to develop or practice, any tools
you want to become familiar with, and any materials you are curious about. You may also want to
include your daily warm-ups in this plan.

137

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Social Making Pages
Purpose Driven Making

Social Making Pages

95

Detail your making below. how did you respond to the prompt? What materials did you use? What
skills did you use and exercise? What are your observations from the making?

Choose a prompt from page 78. You may choose to print them as prompt cards and draw one as
a surprise prompt. When you choose the prompt you and those you’ve invited to make will use your
skills of putting things together, taking them apart, simple machines, and anything else you have
learned to make something that serves that purpose. Take 20-30 minutes to make. If you find you
have accomplished the goal to the group’s satisfaction, choose another prompt and make again
until your time has ended.

Improvisations
For the next 20-30 minutes gather your making materials and choose an improvisational exercise
from pages 76-77. Each improvisation will take 5-15 minutes depending on how many people you
have invited. Feel free to create and record your own improvisational exercises.
Use the space below to sketch and describe your improvisations. Record your makings, innovations,
questions, observations, and any surprises you may have encountered.

94

138

THE APPENDICES

Social Making Pages

Social Making Pages

Use the space below to detail the skills you have practiced. What was easy? What was difficult?
What goals can you set to keep practicing?

97

Choose a skill to practice from pages 72-75. You may also choose to practice another making skill
not included in this workbook. Practice this skill until you feel you can use it without using a guide. As
you have time, choose more skills to practice until your 30-45 minutes are up.

Skill Building

With a friend, or more than one friend, find a safe space to make. In this space you are invited to
develop skills that will become a foundation of your making. For this last social making exercise you
will focus on skill building, improvisation in making, and purpose driven making. 20-30 minutes for
each portion will give you adequate time to practice, though 30 minutes for each portion will ensure
you have enough time to practice, reflect, write, and discuss together.

96

How do you plan to continue practicing what you’ve learned during this making exercise for the rest
of this week? Write out your practice plans, detail skills you want to develop or practice, any tools
you want to become familiar with, and any materials you are curious about. You may also want to
include your daily warm-ups in this plan.

139

MATERIALS OF RESILIENCE

Social Making Pages
Purpose Driven Making

Social Making Pages

99

Detail your making below. how did you respond to the prompt? What materials did you use? What
skills did you use and exercise? What are your observations from the making?

Choose a prompt from page 78 You may choose to print them as prompt cards and draw one as a
surprise prompt. When you choose the prompt you and those you’ve invited to make will use your
skills of putting things together, taking them apart, simple machines, and anything else you have
learned to make something that serves that purpose. Take 20-30 minutes to make. If you find you
have accomplished the goal to the group’s satisfaction, choose another prompt and make again
until your time has ended.

Improvisations
For the next 20-30 minutes gather your making materials and choose an improvisational exercise
from pages 76-77. Each improvisation will take 5-15 minutes depending on how many people you
have invited. Feel free to create and record your own improvisational exercises.
Use the space below to sketch and describe your improvisations. Record your makings, innovations,
questions, observations, and any surprises you may have encountered.

98

140

THE APPENDICES

Social Making Pages
How do you plan to continue practicing what you’ve learned during this making exercise for the rest
of this week? Write out your practice plans, detail skills you want to develop or practice, any tools
you want to become familiar with, and any materials you are curious about. You may also want to
include your daily warm-ups in this plan.

100

101

141