Coordinator

Ph.D. and Researcher in industrial design is an assistant professor at the school of design of Politecnico di Milano.

From 2006 to 2014 she was a researcher at the department of chemistry, materials and chemical engineering “Giulio Natta” (DCMC).

Valentina is an Assistant Professor at the Design Department at the School of Design, Politecnico di Milano. She has been working in the field of materials for design for almost twenty years gaining expertise on this topic both in research and education. She has always been interested in the expressive-sensorial dimension of materials and their emotional aspects. Currently, her research and education activities are focused on emerging materials experiences, Materials Driven Design (MDD) method, materials interactions, DIY Materials, tinkering with materials, CMF (colors, materials and finishes) design, the value of repairing and imperfection and interactive connected and smart materials (ICS Materials).

Additionally, she is one of the founders of the Experience and Interaction Research Lab at the Design Department. She collaborates with Polifactory, the makerspace of Politecnico di Milano and has also started Materiali&Design, the materials library at the School of Design, back in 1999.

At the institution, she is involved with the Technical and Scientific Committee of the Product Design course and is responsible for the internationalization process.

In 2014, she was involved as research collaborator with Digital DIY, a European Union funded project that focused on the creative community in the digital environment and on the DIY approach. In 2016 she won as the principal investigator on an internal call with the project entitled “ICS_Materials: scenarios and methods for designing (with) interactive, connected and smart materials.”