The purpose of this work has been to explore if objects can strengthen communication between psychologists and children in therapy. Can objects together with tactility as a tool help us to find and put words to feelings and episodes in our lives? I have explored this by interviewing three psychologists on several occasions who work with children. I have planned and implemented a three-day workshop with four children in the age of 7. Working in 3D as a method of sketching and testing has been an important part of the process.The work resulted in a tactile material consisting of 18 objects that have different material qualities. During tests the material has been helpful in order tostart conversation and getting help describing emotions. My hope is that this material will continued to be tested and developed.

The ongoing project discusses how we as a society perceive and communicate through bodily experiences. The primary aim is to apply textile into a space and also to encourage people to use their senses when experiencing at design objects and spaces. The approach in this project is not meant to lead to a finish commercial product but rather to build up a spatial environment with textile materials and open up possibilities to use it. The challenge is for people to learn to let go of the stereotypes and think in an alternative way. This essay documents my journey from the starting point, describes the way I think and the process of work. This paper starts by giving the background to where it all began. Then it explores the tool I use to communicate, in this time is craft. There was a turning point during the experimental project I did which intended to apply textile to interior space. The upshot was how we as a society perceive and communicate through tactility. As time went by I learnt to narrow down my ideas and the work itself into one main consistent theme. As well as the work itself, the procedure is equally as important and was introduced into this essay. The forth chapter represents one illustration of how the concept can be applied. Finally is the summary of this journey. / 40,5 Högskolepoäng.

The resonance of a knock on a door uncovers its density. The smell of a wall describes its materiality. The texture of a floor may invite us to sit or lay down. The smoothness of a handrail comforts our ascent. Human skin is a powerful material that enables us to perceive and understand our surroundings. Skin is highly expressive; based on its color, texture, wear and plasticity we can read it, gathering information concerning culture, ethnic background, age, abuse, health and the tasks it performs on specific body parts. Skin itself reads as it is readable. Our skin can gather data through tactile perception and read our spatial surroundings. Architecture is an expressive act and the only discipline that stimulates all of our senses. An architect designs spaces that foresee and celebrate the bodily interaction of the inhabitant. The architecture of the 21st century seems to be geared toward a more optic experience, an influence of the digital world and its widespread effect. The architectural body of modern construction is made up of skins that convey no intentions of interaction between human skin, delivering a concoction of low quality materials that time and again are layered the same way and only aim to be cost efficient. The result is a bland, empty and "flat" experience. In a culture dominated by visual stimulation, can the design of architectural skins aid in the reading and understanding through touch of an architectural body's spatial sequence? / Master of Architecture

Although we are surrounded by hundreds of surfaces we can still distinguish them from each other simply by touch. The tactile information, interpreted by our brain and given by our fingers, is precise, but to put words to the sensation is very difficult — is it smooth, sticky or harsh? We do not only perceive surfaces differently, we also describe them in our own way. Luckily the forces and deformations that the skin are exposed to when sliding over a surface is ruled by laws of nature. This thesis investigates the contact between finger and surface and how it is affected by, for example, material properties, surface texturing or changes in climate. By measuring contact area, friction coefficient, and adhesion, using different materials and under different conditions, conclusions could be drawn. Also, a model for the contact between a finger and a sinus­oidal surface was developed, which could be used to estimate contact area, deformation and resulting friction coefficient. Results showed how differences in for example material, surface topography and environ­ment affect the interaction between finger and surface, and what consequences it has. If the objective is to change the feel of a surface or to alter the grip, this thesis could work as a support. Paper A investigates the area and friction between finger and glass surface under different conditions. Paper B presents a model for the contact area and deformation for a finger in contact with a sinusoidal surface. Paper C is a validation of the contact area model. Here it was used on new surfaces and compared with new finger friction measurements. Paper D mainly examines whether the adhesion or stickiness of different surfaces is distinguishable by a test panel and how this affects the perceived pleasantness of the surface. Paper E relates to the adhesion and friction for a bioskin probe and skin. Tests were made to evaluate how an artificial probe can be used to evaluate the tactile properties of a surface. / Även om vi omges av hundratals olika ytor kan vi fortfarande skilja dem åt med hjälp av känseln. Den taktila informationen från fingertopparna som tolkas av hjärnan är precis, men att sätta ord på hur ytan känns är väldigt svårt. Len, sträv eller grov? Vi upplever inte bara ytorna olika utan beskriver dem också på olika sätt. Krafterna och deformationerna som huden utsätts för när den glider över en yta styrs dock av naturlagar. Denna avhandling utreder kontakten mellan fingertopp och yta och hur den påverkas av exempelvis materialval, ytstruktur eller förändringar i klimat. Genom mäta kontaktarea, friktionskoefficient och adhesion för olika material i varierande omgivning kunde slutsatser dras. En modell för kontakten mellan fingertopp och sinusformad yta togs fram vilken kunde användas till att uppskatta kontaktarea, deformation och resulterande friktionskoefficient. Resultaten visade hur skillnader i exempelvis material, yttopografi och omgivning påverkar kontakten mellan finger och yta och vilka kon­sekvenser detta får. Om målet är att förändra känslan eller friktionen för en yta kan denna avhandling fungera som stöd. Artikel A undersöker kontakten och friktionen mellan fingertopp och glasyta för olika förhållanden. Artikel B presenterar en modell för arean och deformationen som sker för fingertopp och sinusformad yta i kontakt. Artikel C är en validering av modellen. Här användes den för nya ytor och jämfördes med nya mätningar av fingerfriktion. Artikel D undersöker i huvudsak huruvida en testpanel kan särskilja adhesionen för olika ytor och hur detta påverkar hur den känns. Artikel E arbetar vidare med adhesion och undersöker och hur en testkropp av artificiell hud kan användas för adhesionsmätningar av en yta. Detta för att med relativt enkla mätningar kunna uppskatta ytans taktila egenskaper. / <p>QC 20160504</p>

The things we have an intimate connection to, handle, collect, and move around with us, are treasures that we need to hold on to. They are important in coping with the balance of movement and stability in a fast-changing world. This project is an investigation of the relationship between people and objects through the making and handling of stones. I explore why and how we connect intimately with physical objects, how they become treasures to us and what it means. Through digging into the stones, connecting to their story of endurance, change and solidity, and eventually letting them go, I explore the role of touching and paying attention, in making and relating to objects and transformation. The stone objects are made from pieces of rock I have collected while travelling. All of them have been transformed by human hands before I picked them out, and many have been given out and then returned to me. Through this ongoing process of transformation and physical encounters, it is becoming clear to me that connection is not only about solidity and stillness, but also about being part of the transformation. Stone as a material is both solid and changing. I aim to make objects of stone that attract and encourage people to engage with them – to experience the pleasure and groundedness that slowing down, zooming in and getting in touch can offer.

Dwelling on Thresholds reflects upon different modes of living/being, how we feel in different rooms and whom we decide to share space with. It asks how the spaces we dwell in affect our ability to access common and private spheres when needed or wanted. Along the way, tactility has come to play a big part in the work which has visually crystallized into a 30 m2 threshold curtain made up of floor plans of all apartments I have lived in over the past 10 years. An abstract information graphics with textures and colour nuances reflecting levels of well-being, alienation and moods in-between. The accompanying publication investigates our constructed environment as well as modes of thinking and dwelling in ‘the common’.

Perception and sense of touch are extremely important factors in design, but until recently, the exploration of skin tribology related to tactility has been relatively untouched. In this emergence, skin-on-polymer interactions are becoming more widely investigated due to the prevalence of polymers in everyday life, and the ability to define these interactions in terms of tactility would be hugely beneficial to the engineering and design process. Previous work has investigated polymer textiles concerning tactility, examining environmental and material properties that affect skin on fabric coefficient of friction. In this study, similar friction procedure was used to compare coefficients of friction of a fingerpad across varying polymer fabrics. Forces were applied in both longitudinal and lateral directions, and it was discovered that force directionality greatly affects coefficient of friction. Specific causes have yet to be determined, but it is suspected that material weave and microscopic surface properties play a major role in this directional behavior. To complement these studies and relate them to tactility, trained human evaluators rated the samples against four tactile attributes: abrasiveness, slipperiness, sensible texture, and fuzziness. These ballots were then analyzed with Quantitative Data Analysis and shown to be repeatable among the participants, and each of the attributes were shown to be statistically independent of coefficient of friction. It should be noted, however, that fuzziness showed the greatest correlation coefficient of R^2=0.27. Material selection plays an integral role in frictional behavior, and researchers have been studying contact theory on both microscopic and macroscopic levels to determine how surface topography affects skin-polymer tribology. To negate material effects discussed in the Greenwood-Williamson contact model, frictional tests were performed on identical polypropylene plaques with textured grooves of varying dimensions. Both geometry and directionality proved to be major frictional contributors; as groove size increased, finger friction in the longitudinal direction decreased, but friction increased laterally. In addition to testing a fingerpad, friction was measured with a silicone wand to simulate a finger with different material properties. The silicone exhibited the opposite trend as skin; as groove width decreased, frictional forces increased longitudinally and decreased laterally. While topography affects frictional behavior, counterface stiffness, and intrinsic material properties may cause the trend shift between skin and silicone.

How can space create qualities that evoke spatial contemplation, exploration and sensory stimulation to create consciousness and spaces for healing and well being? The fast paced lives, new technology and the constant connection today is leading to stress and anxiety and takes hold of one’s ability to remain present. It has been a change in the fundamentals of the human experience. Our use of technology is creating a two dimensional world, where we´re experiencing the world through the phone, tv or computer which has replaced the experience through the body and all of its senses. Stress narrows our attention and our connection to the present moment and personal encounters. So how can space then instead create consciousness so that we become aware and mindful in the present moment? By emphasising the path to our destination, we can make the arrow longer between point A and point B. This can be done by using different types of mens to heighten the sensory experience acoustically, tactilely and visually. We can see the path we think we are going to take to get to the goal, but along the way we meander, we engage, we stop and touch the wall, we feel the light filter into the space, we pause in the warmth that is created from the ambience, we hear the sound from dripping water. These are perhaps the more memorable experiences. Not the goal but the way there itself.

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“Longing for Touch” is an investigation of what makes us drawn to tactile interactions. With this project and essay I am focussing on the importance of our haptic sense and draw attention to the experiences we lack, in a world where our experiences are getting digitalized to a greater extent. I am investigating how phenomena such as pleasure and aesthetics are linked together and how they can be used to foster physical interaction. I have a fascination of how we as humans are drawn towards disgust, and I’m interested in the tension these contradicting feelings create. In this essay I present research, that shows disgust both revolts and attracts, and I go over why disgust is an effective tool to capture attention. In the studio, I’m transforming my findings from the research into physical objects. By focusing on aesthetics while playing with elements of disgust – I can create objects we are drawn to touch. / <p>Two images have been removed for copyright reasons. The source information for the images are kept - in order for reader to access the images on their own.</p>