ABOUT

Hi, I am Dion!

I am a hands-on material researcher with a focus on interaction and affordance. 

Since the start of my Bachelors, I have always been working hands-on and loved prototyping. I'm heavily inspired by the way how art and architecture can move the viewer by telling a story through its aesthetics or fabrication. Therefore, I work on the edge of art and design. My main expertise areas are thus Creativity and Aesthetics and Technology and Realisation. 

Each semester, I have worked with a new material to broaden my material library. I have worked with textiles, wood, paper, foam, silicone, PLA, TPU, acrylic, magnets, wax, and ceramics. I am convinced that for a well-designed product, you firstly need to understand what material is suitable and how you can manipulate it. My experience with all these materials enables me to tackle design problems using material qualities and seeing if a certain material can solve a certain issue. This approach allows me to place materials outside of their ordinary context, which can result in interesting applications and surprising aesthetics. 

From my FBP on, tangible interaction (Hoven, et al., 2007) has been of my interest. I feel like the interactions that we have with our surroundings are getting uniform and superficial, especially with the touch screens all around us. I want to challenge and mesmerize users when interacting with my designs. Reminding them that interaction should not always be fully functional, but that it also has to be pleasant! Tangible and embodied interactions (Dourish, 2001) are approaches I use in my designs to elevate the experience and spark interest in the user, challenging them to use more than only their fingertips when interacting with products. Therefore I also tend to include User and Society in my projects. 

Combining all these aspects, I am intrigued by a material’s capability to guide form and interaction. The way the material is perceived by its user determines how they handle it and what it does. Creating the same object using 5 different materials will result in 5 different aesthetics and 5 different interactions. Using the inherent qualities and affordances (Gibson, 1979) of a material to create interesting, tangible interactions, is something I strive for.
Nowadays everything has to be cheap, has to happen fast and has to be as efficient as possible (Grand Rising Staff, 2025). This way of living results in people being not aware of the present and always being focussed on what is coming next. To accompany this fast pace, objects are designed to be replaceable, efficient and not distracting. Aesthetics have become more uniform and boring than ever and with the help of mass production, the fabrication of boring aesthetics is also made easier. 

Mass-production and its accompanying aesthetic also removes all the character of a product, resulting in less affinity and connection to the object. The mindset that is created by this, promotes replacing and creates an urge for consumption. People find it easier to throw away their stuff and buy new things, rather than appreciating and taking care of the things they own. Product’s life span is getting shorter, which contributes to the throw-away culture. 

This has serious consequences for the earth and I think that our consumption behaviour is falling into a downward spiral in which the time that we “own”  things is getting shorter and shorter, making people lazy, sustains a discarding mindset and creates an unhealthy relationship between user and product. 

I implement Slow Technology (Hallnäs and Redström, 2001), a philosophy that designs for reflection, to slow down the pace of living and make people more appreciative and aware of their surroundings and the things they interact with. I do this through rematerializing objects (M1.2), recontextualising materials (M2.2) and designing embodied interactions (Interactive Materiality). Furthermore, I want to bring back craftsmanship, the emphasis on human touch and attention to detail to daily interactive products. 
Van Den Hoven, E., Frens, J., Aliakseyeu, D., Martens, J. B., Overbeeke, K., & Peters, P. (2007, February). Design research & tangible interaction. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Tangible and embedded interaction (pp. 109-115). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1226969.1226993?casa_token=Ff_vyzuA_V0AAAAA:cJk9wRrq1NrCOgKWgy12W6QITp-JYDBELZMu0pJlZKxjWyE4qDoUw321RLOa2MKctFQmwRcdxlY
Gibson, J. J. (2014). The theory of affordances:(1979). In The people, place, and space reader (pp. 56-60). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315816852-11/theory-affordances-james-gibson
Grand Rising Staff (2025) The Mental Health Impact of Living in a Fast-Paced. Society https://www.grandrisingbehavioralhealth.com/blog/the-mental-health-impact-of-living-in-a-fast-paced-society
Hallnäs, L., & Redström, J. (2001). Slow technology–designing for reflection. Personal and ubiquitous computing, 5, 201-212. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/PL00000019
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