Unpacking design practices: The notion of thing in the making of artifacts

The aim of this work is to provide a way to investigate design practices that allows a focus on the movements and the transformations that lie behind designed products, which usually lose contact with their own original conditions of design and production. Through a detailed analysis of the design of a new artifact (a piece of jewelry) and in contrast with reductionist accounts of design practices, the notion of thing is introduced in a twofold meaning: a gathering of different elements and a problematic issue in process of definition. In investigating the relationship between these two folds lying behind the making of a new artifact, two underlying logics and tendencies are individualized and discussed in detail. These are objectifying and thinging tendencies. A discussion of how the proposed framework contribute to design studies and practices is offered in the conclusion.