Material Matters London

All talks and events are staged in the Talks Space, on the floor of the fair. 


Tuesday 16 September - Preview

Only Natural Awards
18.00-20.00 - The Block (ON Exhibition Space and Talks Space)

As this event takes place during the Material Matters Preview evening, attendance must be pre-arranged. Please contact info@onlynaturaldesign.com. 


Wednesday 17 September

Why Materials Matter
13.30-14.15 

Seetal Solanki describes herself as a materials translator and has been in the vanguard of material thinking since she launched her practice, Ma-tt-er, in 2015. To kick off the Material Matters talks programme, she talks about the importance of the stuff that surrounds us with journalist and writer Amy Frearson. 

Speaker: Seetal Solanki
Chair: Amy Frearson

In the Making: Land
15.00-15.45 

This talk is part of a series that focuses on our major exhibition, In The Making 2.0, curated by tp bennett and Future Works, the innovation partner of The Furniture Practice. Focussing on one of the key threads of the installation, land, it investigates the importance of using land sustainably and asks why land use changes can have a negative impact on the environment. How can we design products and materials to use land more respectfully, seeking alternative resources and circular outcomes? 

Speakers include: Stefania Zamuner, head of marketing & communications, Arper; Gemma Matthias, co-founder, SmithMatthias, and designer, Modus; Jules Archard, sales director, Domus
Chair: Oli Stratford, Editor in Chief of Disegno Journal

Material Futures: Looking Back to Look Forward
16.00-16.45

The Fondation USM Futures Lab is an initiative by London-based design studio ForEveryday.Life, which was created to explore, envision, and advocate for possible futures that prioritise sustainability and innovation. In this talk it will be introducing two of the exhibitors it is showcasing at Material Matters. Studio ThusThat investigates the overlooked potential of industrial by-products such as ash and slags, while Material Library of India reimagines cotton for a world defined by climate extremes. 

Speakers: Colin Macgadie, founder, For Everyday Life and chair, Futures Lab; Shubhi Sachan, founder, Material Library of India; Kevin Rouff, co-founder, Studio ThusThat
Chair: Grant Gibson, co-founder Material Matters

Negroni Talk: Keepin’ It Up: What Does it Actually Mean for a Building to Perform
18.00-18.45

The building industry has a huge impact in the context of carbon emissions, energy consumption and climate change. Whilst ‘adaptive reuse’ has become a buzzword with louder calls for upgrading, renovating – and converting existing buildings instead of creating more new buildings – a culture of demolition persists.

With new-build being seen as an easier way to meet increasingly demanding requirements, how can we really improve the overall performance of our built environment if we don’t address the inefficiencies and wastage associated with the dated fabric of our existing building stock throughout the nation? Equally, do we truly value the qualities that existing buildings offer: embodied energy, cultural memory, material richness, spatial character and social continuity?

This session is organised by fourth-space. 

Speakers: Wolf Mangelsdorf, partner Buro Happold; Rod Heyes, Architectural Association; Becci Taylor, director Arup; Neal Shasore, historian and trustee, Architectural Heritage Fund
Co-chairs: Huw Williams, director, Fourthspace and co-founder, Negronit Talks; Robert Fiehn


Thursday 18 September

BETTER FUTURE Embassy
09.00-13.00

The BETTER FUTURE Embassy is a new platform and meeting point for design and architecture studios to connect with international business opportunities. Staged in partnership with the Design Business Association, the half-day forum will present a range of perspectives on international trade, with a particular focus on India - poised to be the world’s third-largest economy by 2030. Please note this is a ticketed event. Further details can be found here. Tickets are £40 and can be purchased here. 

In the Making - Water
13.30-14.30

This talk is part of a series that focuses on our major exhibition In The Making 2.0, curated by tp bennett and Future Works, the innovation partner of The Furniture Practice. Focussing on one of the key threads of the installation, water, it looks at the importance of clean water and uninterrupted water cycles, investigating the devastating force of water when coupled with climate change – and how we can reduce our impacts of overconsumption, water waste and pollution through innovative design and manufacturing. 

Speakers include: Jose Pino, area manager, Andreu World; Dr. Alisdair Bremner, co-founder and chief executive officer, Alusid; Shubhi Sachan, founder, Material Library of India; Claire Potter, associate professor, circular economy designer, researcher, author and environmental volunteer, Surfers Against Sewage
Chair: Oli Stratford, Editor in Chief of Disegno Journal

Working with Waste
15.00-15.45

One of the threads that has stitched Material Matters together since it launched as a podcast in 2019 is how we can use the things that ‘the everyday folk leave behind’ (and, yes, that is a quote from The Wombles). The 2025 edition of the fair features a number of exhibitors who are working imaginatively with waste. In this talk we meet just a handful of them.

Speakers: Tabitha Bargh; Micaella Pedros; Kieran Devlin, founder, Revive Innovations; Conor Taylor – co-founder, Low Carbon Industrial
Chair: Debika Ray

Sensory Nordic Design
17.00-17.45

A thought-provoking panel exploring the sensory power of Nordic design. From the grounding coolness of stone to the softness of down and the alignment of the body in sleep, our panellists will discuss how material, texture, and temperature shape the emotional and physical experience of design, rooted in Norwegian craftsmanship and material intelligence. 

Speakers: Sanjay Verma, chief sleep officer, Jensen Beds and Olympic sleep coach; Ben Ayling, business development manager UK, Lundhs Real Stone; Michelle Alger, director, Hyphen Design Agency; Therese Haltuff, head of international business, Norsk Dun
Chair: Grant Gibson, co-founder, Material Matters


Friday 19 September

The Rise of Polish Design
12.00-12.45

As part of the UK/Poland Creative Season 2025, this panel explores how cultural exchange is shaping the future of Polish design. From materiality to identity, the conversation highlights the human touch and sustainable innovation driving the country’s creative scene, and the cultural context that informs its aesthetic and purpose.

Speakers: Alicja Patanowska; Alicja Prussakowska, co-founder of Formsophy; Aleksandra Szymanska, director of the Creative Industries Institute; Timothy Shepherd, founder and managing director at Shepherd&
Chair: Grant Gibson, co-founder Material Matters

In the Making: Atmosphere
13.30-14.30

This talk is part of a series that focuses on our major exhibition In The Making 2.0, curated by tp bennett and Future Works, the innovation partner of The Furniture Practice. Focussing on one of the key threads of the installation, atmosphere, it aims to highlight why clean air is important – indoors and outdoors – where we and the communities around us work and live. It will look at how materials can reduce the amount of pollution in our atmosphere. 

Speakers: Duncan Lockhead, commercial sustainability manager, AkzoNobel; Caroline Till, co-founder of FranklinTill and designer for Tarkett; Dr. Massimo Gatelli, head of material science, Impact Acoustic; Clare Daly, head of private sector engagement, Clean Air Fund
Chair: Oli Stratford, Editor in Chief of Disegno Journal

Timber Inside - Bringing Nature into our Buildings
15.00-15.45

As a time-tested, renewable, carbon-storing material, the benefits of using wood in our built environment are well known. The focus of this panel is to delve into the powerful psychological, educational and sensorial potentials of making a building feel like a wood building. Featuring leading designers behind three projects from the Wood Awards 2025 shortlist, this talk will consider how timber interiors – from exposed structures, to fit outs and furniture – can connect users to history, to nature, and to sustainable making practices, in both rural and urban spaces.

Speakers: Lou Davies, co-founder, BOX 9; Edmund Fowles, founding director, Feilden Fowles; Rachel Elliott, associate director, Lynch Architects 
Chair: Sebastian Cox, designer and maker


Saturday 20 September

Saturday interview:  Vlasta Kubušová
12.30-13.15

Vlasta Kubušová is the co-founder of crafting plastics! studio, an award-winning design-research practice founded in 2016. The studio explores the intersection of science, design, and sustainability, pioneering new generations of ecological bioplastics and biocomposites. Its work ranges from consumer products to architectural systems, always developed with an ethos of circularity, transparency, and care for the environment. She will be talking about the studio’s major installation at Material Matters London and many other things besides. 

Speaker: Vlasta Kubušová
Chair: Grant Gibson

Why bio is best
13.30-14.15

Pine resin, salt, collagen, algae, and mycelium are just a few of the materials used by the designers on this panel. We hear how they discovered their materials of choice and why they might be the future of design.  

Speakers: Jacob Marks; Sabrina Merayo Nuñez; Julia Briere; Manuel Arias Barrantes
Chair: Katie Treggiden

Making-Well
15.00-15.45

Making is good for us and can support health and wellbeing. But how exactly? And if we are to design and make products that build in health and well-being for people and planet, as well as profit how does this materialise? What role do materials have within ambitions to 'make (us) well’? Do they act as the medicine in the mediation of well-being? 

This talk will take the S.E.E chair project, led by the Making-It-Out charity and featured at this year’s Material Matters London, as a case study to explore the topic of how to make in ways that support well-being.

The project team, including design researchers and practitioners and charity leads, will discuss how the creation of products can deliver better social, economic and environmental well-being.  

Speakers: Dr Nick Gant, University of Brighton; Mark Whaley, CEO, Making-It-Out. They will be joined by service users who participated in the project to explore how we can critique amplify the positive benefits of Making-Well.
Chair: Grant Gibson