Designing and Consuming set out to develop theoretical understanding of the 'stuff' of consumption. It has done so by going beyond conventional preoccupations of consumption studies, focusing on use, rather than acquisition; on the material, rather than the symbolic; and on relations between artefacts and practices.  Building on a programme of empirical case studies the project has generated new ways of thinking about material artefacts and the parts they play in the dynamics of everyday life. In particular, we show how complexes of things and practice co-evolve, and how designers and consumers add value to the products with which they interact.

The project was part of the Cultures of Consumption research programme funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Economic and Social Research Council (award no. RES-154-25-0011). The project ran collaboratively between Lancaster University Department of Sociology, University of Durham Department of Geography, and Birmingham Institute of Art and Design at University of Central England, from January 2005 to December 2006.

For a summary of project findings, click on the findings button. More detailed and extended work from the project can be found via the outputs button. Central to the project was a series of workshops, reports and associateed materials from which can be found via the events button.