Artigo:

The bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is a plant with tropical habit disseminated in all continents, with annual productive cycle and high productivity. After the drying process, the fruits are used for the production of food containers and other artifacts. Understanding how users perceive the material is critical to expanding application possibilities in new product design. The objective of the study is to identify the material perception of bottle gourd in relation to wood and derivatives. The analysis was carried out from nine samples: two of wood, six of derivatives and one of bottle gourd. The materials were evaluated through a questionnaire with sensorial attributes and another with semantic attributes. The bottle gourd obtained high scores on the sensory attributes of light, smooth and soft, as well as on the semantic attributes of natural, sustainable, delicate and pleasant. The study demonstrated that the main characteristics of the material are identified by the user.