A New Human-Nature Relationship in the Domestic Environment

Within the Anthropocene debate, the process of asserting human dominance over nature begins to give way to a phase of decline. Determining the overcoming of the anthropocentric view is a new interpretation of the concept of nature: a complex system where humans act and interact with it, giving rise to a co-evolutionary process that considers all direct and indirect interdependencies between living and nonliving beings (Petroni, M. Studio Formafantasma: Il design degli iperoggetti. Postmedia books, 2022). With this new definition of the human-nature relationship, the design culture intercepts new fields oriented toward New Materialism (Coole, D., Frost, S. The New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics. Duke University Press, 2010), a holistic conception in which there is no longer a split between humans and nature, but both coexist within interconnected relationships. With the aim of interpreting this phenomenon, restorative design is reinterpreting the relationship between humans and the context where they live by investigating new dialogues with nature through objects, strategies, and systems (Antonelli Antonell iP, Tannir A. Broken nature. XXII Triennale di Milano. Electa, 2019) Broken nature. XXII Triennale di Milano. Electa). The paper aims to describe the metamorphosis of the contemporary domestic object in relation to the concept of “cosmic hospitality open to biodiversity” (Branzi 2008) through a design experimentation that investigates the history of artisanal silkworming and its persistence in contemporary production. The article consists of a descriptive part of the critical issues in the human-nature relationship, an analysis of the approach of critical design and restorative practices, and a design part of a system-product designed for the protection of silkworm cultivation and its new dissemination.