Materials Newspaper

The “Materials Newspaper”, created by HML co-founder Jonsara Ruth with graduate interior design students, is based on Parsons’ MFA Interior Design course taught with interior design faculty, professor Yu Nong Khew and part-time faculty Sam Bennett, also a senior researcher at Healthy Materials Lab. Together they revised the required materials course for MFA Interior Design at Parsons to include a deep look into all aspects of material health while examining the performance of eight common materials used in design.

This publication and the course, Materials & Performance, suggests a new way of studying materials and introducing them in the classroom by focusing on each material’s impact on both human and environmental health. It starts with a provocative question rarely asked in design classrooms: ‘Why make anything new?’ Then each material, including materials such as wood, clay, and textiles is investigated. The “Materials Newspaper” includes excerpts from student research, class readings, and faculty presentations.