Material Matters returns to Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf from 18-21 September and promises to be a highlight of the London Design Festival 2024. Launched in 2022, the fair has quickly become a fixture in the international design calendar, attracting an array of talent for its third edition. The event runs the gamut from globally recognised brands to emerging talent – the thread running through it all is an innate sense of material intelligence and the desire to make the world a slightly better place.

Circal100R - Hydro

Highlights include Fibre Futures, an installation from BIOTEXFUTURE, led by adidas AG and RWTH Aachen University, exploring material innovation in high-performance textiles. Returning to Material Matters, aluminium manufacturer Hydro presents 100R, which asks seven internationally renowned designers – Inga Sempe, Max Lamb, Andreas Engesvik, Shane Schneck, Rachel Griffin, John Tree, and Philippe Malouin – to each create a product from Hydro CIRCAL 100R, the world’s first aluminium made entirely from recycled post-consumer scrap on an industrial scale. AHEC (the American Hardwood Export Council) will highlight American maple through Pirouette, a collection of fluid furniture pieces by Parti and Jan Hendzel Studio.

Material Matters 2023
Image: Sophie Mutevelian

Other features include a showcase by TP Bennett and The Furniture Practice, 2024’s design studio of the year PriestmanGoode, and The Wood Awards exhibition at gallery@oxo, highlighting exceptional wood-centric work from top UK architects, designers, and makers.

Emerging themes this year include working with waste and biomaterials. Ferzom Ceramics will exhibit glazes made from 100% waste materials, while Rosy Napper will showcase homeware made from recycled ceramic and waste ash. Taiwanese firm FILIE Material repurposes car windshield waste into valuable materials, and Alkesh Parmar returns with a new body of work made from locally sourced orange peel. Dutch company VivÈrdie Industries is also back to show how to repurpose textile waste into new materials.

Material Matters also welcomes Spared®, which turns waste into beautiful objects. Hempla, a debut collection designed by Sofia Hagen and Studio Marmi in partnership with Studio Waldemeyer, brings together the latest in innovative 3D printing technologies and traditional craftsmanship to create seating made from organic hemp bound with recycled sugar cane, with integrated lighting programmed to follow the user’s circadian rhythm. Mari Koppanen’s project Kääpä+ features amadou, a leather-like material from tinder mushrooms, and Mushlume Lighting showcases biofabricated lighting grown from mycelium.

Kääpä+ - Mari Koppanen

Root Pod Lamp - Rootfull

The fair also includes lamps, jewellery, and fashion items made from roots by Rootfull; stools from 3D-printed earth soils, plant fibres, and animal manure by The Natural Materials Lab; collagen-based bioplastic lights by Sabrina Merayo Nuñez; and products from seaweed and mycelium by Welsh design studio Tŷ Syml.

In addition to these innovations, traditional materials are also celebrated. Modet, a furniture brand founded by Irish designer Paul O’Brien, will showcase new designs – including the Langford lounge chair – alongside established pieces, experimenting with materials such as stone, leather, and bronze.

Muddy Stools - The Natural Materials Lab

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| Banner Image: Material Matters 2023 (credit: Sophie Mutevelian)