Exploring Indigenous Craft Materials and Sustainable Design—A Case Study Based on Taiwan Kavalan Banana Fibre

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The analyzed topic and the case study are very interesting and has been studied in depth with methodological rigor. The work structure is excellent and well articulated.

The literature review is detailed and thorough.

The article is accompanied by an excellent set of images useful for reading and understanding the topic.

The results are explained in a clear and detailed manner.

Overall the work is very good

Author Response

Thanks for your valuable and distinguished comments.

Reviewer 2 Report

The article discusses the indigenous processing of banana fibre within the remits of sustainability, cultural heritage, climate change, and traditional crafting among others. The authors thoroughly engage the concept of Material Driven Design to elucidate the stages involved in the processing of banana fibre and the important role of understanding the nature of the materials for a better design approach and effective productivity.  The paper is original and well-illustrated in every stage involved in the experimentation work. The discussion of the experimentation, participants' experience, and material processing are in of their own interesting, well-narrated, and deserve some credit. However, I found the weaving of the discussions around "grounded theory" a little bit clumsy. Perhaps, the authors need to make it clear from the introduction why the theory is relevant beyond just a mere tool to "analyse and summarise the data." The question of "how" of GT needs to be fleshed out.

There is a need for line by line editing. Some of the sentences are difficult to understand and need improvement. For example, the last sentence of the abstract seems too long and incoherent. Another example is sentence two of paragraph 2 in section 2.2.

In section 4.1. the authors state that "the four aforementioned aspects (i.e. material ingredients, material processing, material structure, and growing condition) influence one another." But the figure does not seem to support this idea by not connecting the four aspects together in the figure. This can be corrected just by inserting lines that connect the four. 

Author Response

Thanks for your valuable and distinguished comments. We have re-edited our manuscript for your concerns: (1) editing for clearly the revelation from the introduction to grounded theory,(2)carefully re-edited the sentences,(3)inserting lines to connect the four aforementioned aspects(Figure 6 )

Revised line code:

Abstract( the  last sentence) 

Introduction(the  last sentence)

Literature Review (sentence two of paragraph 2 in section 2.2)

MDD-Based Design Intervention for Banana Fibre Craft (Figure 6)

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Manuscript Number: sustainability-1716156

Subject: Exploring Indigenous Craft Material and Sustainable Design—A Case Study Based on Taiwan Kavalan Banana Fibre

The article makes a positive impression, is relevant, original has scientific novelty and practical significance. However, some improvements are still required. Specific points to be improved are listed below.

-In general, the abstract was not properly structured and more results are appreciated.
-Conclusion must be reconstructed & simplified into  4-5 main points.

-In the "Conclusions" section, information should be added on the practical significance of the results obtained and the prospects of the study.

-In the article, the resolution of some tables and figures is not good and should be improved.

-There are typos in the text. It is necessary to proofread the text again and edit it.

-The authors should cite more articles related to the topic of this article published in the last three years.

-It is necessary to improve English. Some words are misspelled. A thorough English language test is required.

Thank you

Author Response

Thanks for your valuable and distinguished comments. We have re-edited our manuscript for your concerns: (1) re-structured the abstract with more results ,(2)about the conclusion section, we reconstructed & simplified into 3 main points and added the practical significance of the results obtained and the prospects of the study,(3)improved the resolution of some figures, (4) added three references, such as Reubens, R. (2019), Väänänen, N., & Pöllänen, S. (2020),(5)we have worked with the MDPI English editing who has been assisted with our English edited.

Revised line code:

Abstract( the  last sentence) 

Introduction(the  last sentence)

MDD-Based Design Intervention for Banana Fibre Craft (Figure 3)

Applying Material Exploration Samples in Design Implementation (Figure 21, 23,24)   Conclusions and Discussion: Continued Use of Design Implementation Method (paragraph 1 & 2)

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Good revised work. The authors covered all the points, and the paper is accepted for publication.