On the History of Materials Design

Cecilia Cecchini's Contribution and Elements of Reflection for New Histories

Abstract

In 2014 AIS / Design. Storia e Ricerche published an article by Cecilia Cecchini, professor of industrial design at the Sapienza University of Rome, whose recent death we want to remember. With the re-publication of her article, entitled "From Celluloid to Bio Plastic. 150 Years of Experiments on Materials Through the Mazzucchelli 1849 Company", we set a double goal. We want to recall, albeit briefly, the contribution of Cecilia Cecchini to historical knowledge and, at the same time, identify the "history of material design", which she investigated, as one of the areas of great attention for the international scientific community, about which, today, new design histories are being written.