Initially, material was at the mercy of the designer’s vision – an inert mass awaiting the genius touch. In his 1971 essay “Der Wandel der Materialbewertung in der Kunsttheorie des 19. Jahrhunderts” (“The Transformation of Material Valuation in 19th-Century Art Theory”), Günter Bandmann describes a pivotal shift from this “idealistic” system to a “materialistic” one, in which materials gained their own agency. No longer passive, wood, metal, or stone began to carry character traits and expressive potentials that informed the very act of shaping.

This re-evaluation – spurred by the aesthetic upheavals of industrialization – gave rise to the notion of Materialgerechtigkeit (material justice). Artisans formulated Materialgesetze (material laws) derived from mechanical properties, and to violate these laws was deemed a “rape” of the material. The ubiquity of wood-chip wallpaper and faux-beech countertops today stands as proof that this rigid approach faltered.

With the advent of functionalism, moral judgments receded, and debates turned more objective. Bauhaus master László Moholy-Nagy argued that understanding a material’s physics was essential to pairing form and purpose. Material was again respected but remained essentially inert in the creative process.

Only recently have designer-makers like Max Lamb reclaimed material as an active collaborator. In his 2015 essay “I Literally Stuck My Hands into the Material,” Lamb describes an alchemical practice – listening to what the material can do rather than imposing preconceived form. This ontogenetic dialogue transforms making into a question-and-answer game between hand and substance.

This study adopts an interdisciplinary lens – drawing on art theory, craft, design, and architecture – to map these evolving perspectives. After defining the concept of material, it explores Johannes Lang’s three modes of perception – material as product of nature, as means to an end, and as medium of representation – before charting Bandmann’s “idealistic” and “materialistic” systems. Within the latter, it identifies four branches of material perception: material-appropriate, functionalist, ecological, and experimental.

The full paper is available in German upon request.