RELIVE aims to explore and conceptualise a framework for designing living artefacts through living materials and digital technologies. The framework will be applied to the Made in Italy system to contribute to the ecological challenges we face today, promoting regenerative futures.

It will focus on the integration of living organisms such as algae, bacteria, fungi and plants in the design process to reduce the environmental footprint of products and to test alternative material expressions, tinkering with bio-based materials for ICS objects bridging biological and technological worlds.

The research will build on recent advances in biodesign, living materials and digital technologies within the HCI domain, leveraging new experiences and interactions with the users. The research group intends livingness as a feature prolonged to the use of artefacts in a mutualistic relationship between human and non-human entities, facilitated by living organisms and technology altogether.

The framework will provide the basis for future explorations in the field of living artefacts, suggesting approaches and methods to practitioners interested in exploring livingness within relevant industrial sectors.