GLAZE EPOCHS: EXTERNALIZING MATERIAL KNOWLEDGE THROUGH TANGIBLE DATA RECORDS IN A CERAMICS STUDIO

Abstract

The "material turn" in HCI has placed a renewed focus on informing design from the relationships found in material-based interactions. While several ethnographic works provide insight into how practitioners converse with materials, it is less understood how these conversations transform into a skilled practitioner's mental model. I examine the material practice of glazing that gives ceramics its decorative and functional characteristics and involves fusing mixtures of silica, alumina, and flux onto a clay body through kiln firing. This practice evolves over decades, developing from multiple trajectories, including theoretical foundations, systematic experimentation, and happy accidents. This work describes virtual site visits with six expert ceramicists and documents how a glaze mental model is externalized in practice, teaching, and the studio environment. I synthesize these findings into a set of design principles that inform how material interactions can move beyond momentary material encounters towards lifelong material epochs. I instantiate these principles in Glaze Epoch, a tangible database system embedded within a ceramics studio, and motivate their value in documenting and tracking tacit knowledge.