Episodes

  • Bas van Abel founded Fairphone in 2013. The company attempts to transform the way our smartphones are manufactured, by reducing e-waste, sourcing conflict-free minerals, and improving working conditions in its supply chain. It creates a product consumers are encouraged to keep longer and which, importantly, they can also repair themselves.

    Fairphone was an immediate hit, attracting 25,000 orders when it launched its first smartphone via a crowd-funding campaign. It has now sold over half a million phones and employs 150 staff.

    In 2018, Bas stepped back as CEO of the company – although he remains a non-executive board member – and, subsequently, co-founded De Clique, a circular start up that looks at ways of dealing with food waste. He is also author of Open Design Now.

    In this episode we talk about: not owning a mobile before he founded Fairphone; how smartphones are made and the global supply chain they require; issues around mining minerals; the importance of repair and longevity; why recycling is 'stupid'; wanting to create a ‘values based’ economic system; how his son’s broken Nintendo DS played a role in starting the company; his initial doubts; the immense stress starting the brand put him under; the company’s ‘shitty’ first phone; and trying to change the system from within.

    If you’re interested in purchasing a Fairphone please use this link:

    https://www.fairphone.com/en/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=material_matters

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  • There have been over 100 episodes of Material Matters but, for listeners who might be new to all this, the idea is that I speak to a designer, maker, artist, or architect about a material or technique with which they’re intrinsically linked and discover how it changed their lives and careers.

    However, once in a while I break my own self-imposed format and interview someone I’ve always wanted to meet. This is one of those episodes.

    Architect John Tuomey is the co-founder of multi-award winning practice O’Donnell + Tuomey, with his wife Sheila O’Donnell. The firm has designed the Glucksman Gallery Cork, the Lyric Theatre in Belfast and the upcoming V&A East Museum, while in 2015, John and Sheila were awarded the prestigious RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

    Towards the end of 2023, he published First Quarter, a gorgeous, lyrical memoir that tells the story of his formative years – from childhood in rural Ireland through to becoming a fully-fledged architect in London and Dublin.

    In this episode we talk about: writing First Quarter during lockdown; how an email from his sister started the process; his peripatetic childhood; growing up in rural Ireland; the storytelling aspect of architecture; the brutality of his school years; the pivotal relationship with his father; the up-ending of Ireland’s clergy; being an extrovert introvert; moving to Dublin and London; meeting Sheila at university; working for James Stirling; and the possibilities of a derelict site…

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  • Sara Grady and Alice Robinson co-founded British Pasture Leather in 2020. The duo aim in their own words ‘to link leather with exemplary farming and, in doing so, to redefine leather as an agricultural product’. All of which means creating a new network of systems within the industry. Essentially, the pair are attempting to make the material we buy traceable in the same way food is.

    In 2022, they created an exhibition, entitled Leather from British Pastures, during the London Design Festival, which included collaborations with the likes of Mulberry and New Balance, as well as Material Matters favourites, Bill Amberg and Simon Hasan.

    More recently, Alice has written a new book, Field Fork Fashion, which charts a bullock’s journey from a field to a series of finished products and dishes – creating her own supply chain in the process.

    In this episode we talk about: how most leather is made; issues around the chrome tanning process; how British Pasture Leather is trying to make a difference; increased meat consumption across the globe and why it changes the value of a hide; building a new supply chain; the state of the British tanning industry; producing their material entirely in the UK; redefining quality and embracing imperfection; how leather brought them together; buying a bullock and writing a book.

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  • Florian Gadsby is a bit of a phenomenon. The ceramicist currently has a new show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and has also published a memoir, By My Hands, that charts his formative years with clay, including apprenticeships in the UK and, most intriguingly, Japan.

    Essentially, it unpicks his route to becoming a fully, fledged professional potter, while at the same time, providing tips about his thinking and process.

    Since he started on Instagram a decade ago, Florian has built up a social media following that can only be described as formidable. He’s part of a generation that has changed the way pots, in particular, but craft, in general, can be communicated, using Instagram and YouTube as educational tools but also as a hugely effective channels for selling work.

    In this episode we talk about: what his studio says about him; his YSP show; selling ‘merch’; being young to publish a memoir; comparing writing to pottery; his fascination with the colour green; going to a Steiner school; deciding against university; his love of mugs and the joy of repetition; his apprenticeship in Japan; resisting the tag of the ‘Instagram potter’; the pressure of social media; and wanting his own apprentice (eventually).

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  • Christien Meindertsma is a Dutch designer who has a fascination with materials. She currently has an installation at the V&A, entitled Re-forming Waste, which shows new work based around her interest in linoleum, as well as technological advances with the material she has described as her first love, wool.

    Christien came to wider attention initially when she graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2003, with a book that catalogued a week’s worth of objects confiscated at security checkpoints in Schipol Airport.

    She followed that up a few years later, with PIG 05049, an extraordinary tome which looked at all the products made using a single pig.

    Her work is the collections of MoMA, the V&A, and the Vitra Design Museum. Over the years, she has won numerous Dutch Design Awards, as well as creating the award for the prestigious Earthshot Prize.

    In this episode we talk about: working alone; experimenting with linoleum; her family’s history with wool; the importance of provenance; defining failure and success; not being interested in selling things or mass production; working with the city of Rotterdam to find ways to deal with its wool; collaborating with a ‘wobot’; designing like a journalist, the energy of Design Academy Eindhoven; and the unexpected uses of a pig…

    We are delighted this episode has been sponsored by the Surface Design Show. The event of choice for architects and designers, it runs from 6-8 February at London’s Business Design Centre and you can register for free at surfacedesignshow.com. We hope to see you there.

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  • This special festive episode is slightly different because, as we come to the end of 2023, we thought it would be interesting to talk to someone who has had a breakthrough year.

    And we couldn’t think of anyone that description fits better than UK-based designer, Simone Brewster. In June, Simone held her first solo exhibition at the NOW Gallery on London’s Greenwich Peninsular, entitled The Shape of Things. While, in September, her installation Spirit of Place with cork company, Amorim, opened on the Strand in the centre of the capital.

    These came with what amounts to a blizzard of publicity, including a profile in the New York Times. In short, she has been hard to avoid.

    In this episode Simone and Grant talk about: her brilliant year; how The Shape of Things informed her practice; creating ‘intimate architecture’ with furniture and jewellery; her (occasionally extraordinary) use of colour; the importance of taking herself seriously; the thinking behind her best-known pieces, The Negress and The Mammy; painting during the pandemic; why people didn’t know what to do with her work; working with cork; her issues with studying architecture; making as salvation; not fitting in… until now; and her plans for 2024.

    We’re delighted that this episode has been sponsored by the American Hardwood Export Council Europe. You can find its excellent podcast Words on Wood here:

    https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/words-on-wood/id1559894669.

    It’s well worth checking out.

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  • Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert is a Paris-based designer, maker, and artist, obsessed with blown glass. In an eclectic career, that has seen him travelling through the USA and Europe, before settling in France in 2007, he has shown work at the V&A, Vessel Gallery in London, and Palais de Tokyo among others. His pieces are also held in a number public collections including: Bibliotheque de France de L’Ecole National des Chartes, and Germany’s European Museum of Modern Glass.

    In 2016, Jeremy was the subject of a feature-length documentary about his work and extraordinary life, entitled Heart of Glass, while in 2019, he was awarded the Prix Bettencourt pour l’Intelligence de la Main.

    In this episode we talk about: having conversations with hot glass and looking for the secrets of the universe; the importance of teamwork to the production of his pieces; dreaming about his material of choice; the physicality involved in making; glass’ relationship with the worlds of art and design; how hot glass ‘grabbed’ his soul; a car accident that changed his life; growing up in Africa and losing his parents early; his subsequent substance abuse; and his desire to break the barriers between disciplines.

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  • Neil Thomas is the founder and director of Atelier One, one of the most creative engineering practices in the UK. The firm has worked on building projects such as Singapore Arts Centre, Federation Square in Australia, and Baltic in Gateshead, as well as with a hugely impressive roster of artists, including Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn and Rachel Whiteread. It has also created stages for stadium rock shows from Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, U2, and Take That, often in collaboration with architect, the late Mark Fisher.

    The practice was the engineer behind the opening ceremony of London’s 2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. While Neil also teaches at Yale and MIT.

    Over recent years, he has developed a fascination with bamboo and was part of the team that created the award-winning Arc building, a community wellness space and gymnasium for the Green School campus in Bali.

    In this episode we chat about: the role of a structural engineer; his ability to talk a number of design languages; the genesis of his obsession with bamboo and its extraordinary properties; overcoming bamboo’s image problem; giving up a teaching post at Yale to build with the material; wanting to be an engineer from childhood; the importance of David Bowie to his life; and, er, having a pony tail in his youth.

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  • Caroline Till is a consultant, author, curator, and academic. She founded Franklin Till, along with Kate Franklin, in 2010 and, since then, the future research agency has worked with the likes of international textile exhibition Heimtextil, paper giant GF Smith, Caesarstone, Tarkett, and IKEA’s former blue sky thinking agency, Space 10.

    The pair has published magazines such as Viewpoint and Viewpoint Colour and co-written the influential book Radical Matter, as well as curating Our Time on Earth, a touring exhibition about the future of the planet which started at London’s Barbican last year.

    Not only that, but for many years, Caroline headed up the Material Futures course at Central Saint Martins, which has produced a number of designers that have appeared on this podcast. She’s also a speaker who is much in demand internationally and opened the talks programme at this year’s Material Matters fair.

    In this episode we talk about: being a climate optimist; why Franklin Till specialises in material and colour; her issues with trends; turning down projects; not being keen on the word ‘sustainability’; defining regenerative design; the importance of seduction; issues with capitalism; thinking of materials as systems; technology’s relationship with nature; and the benefits of studying textile design.

    However, we kick off with her objection to the UK’s current Home Secretary, Suella Braverman…

    Our thanks go to the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

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  • Tom Lloyd and Luke Pearson co-founded the hugely influential design studio, Pearson Lloyd, in 1997. Since then, it has gone on to work in areas such as the workplace, transport and health care, with organisations like Virgin, Lufthansa, the Department for Health, and furniture giant Senator.

    The practice is the Designer of the Year at the Material Matters 2023 fair and will be using the space at Bargehouse to investigate how its use of materials has been transformed over recent years, including projects with clients such as Modus, Batch.Works, Howe, Flokk, Profim and Camira.

    In this episode we talk about: controversially criticising Arne Jacobsen’s classic Egg chair; their installation at Material Matters 2023; marrying craft and industry; how their material perspective has changed; balancing environmental, social and economic needs; why they’re still using plastic; building out obsolescence; the aesthetics of circularity; bringing contemporary workplace theory to schools; the importance of visible fixings, durability and repair; working with the aviation industry; the problem with paint; meeting at the Royal College of Art; being drawn into the furniture industry; celebrating their differences; and fearing boredom.

    Our thanks go to the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

    And to register for the Material Matters fair, which runs from 20-23 September at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf go to:

    https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/material-matters-2023-tickets-591491014547

    PS apologies for my slightly ham-fisted Monty Python analogy…

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  • Marie Carlisle is CEO and co-founder of social enterprise (and Material Matters exhibitor), Goldfinger. The organisation opened its doors at the foot of West London’s Trellick Tower in 2013 and makes high end furniture from wood – that has often been reclaimed or ‘treecycled’ – in its workshop. Not only that but it has a showroom and cafe, as well as an academy that teaches marginalised young people the craft of wood working through its apprenticeship programme.

    It is a fascinating and, I think, important place.

    In this episode we talk about: how Trellick Tower shaped the business; making waste aspirational; bridging North Kensington’s social divide; why Goldfinger works with wood; the relationship between wood and wellbeing; the importance of ‘treecycling’; collaborating with the likes of Arup and Tom Dixon; her fascination with food and setting up the cafe; the once a month community meal; how the pandemic changed the People’s Kitchen model; working with young people in the academy; how the social enterprise has changed over the past decade; Goldfinger’s future.

    Our thanks go to the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

    And to register for the Material Matters fair, which runs from 20-23 September at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf go to:

    https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/material-matters-2023-tickets-591491014547

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  • My guest for the 100th episode of Material Matters is a British designer who sits somewhere between industry and craft. Michael Marriott has a fascination with materials – so much so that his web shop is called Wood Metal Plastic – and a love of resourceful design. Over the years he’s created furniture for the likes of Established & Sons, SCP, and Very Good and Proper, as well as designing and curating exhibitions, working on interiors, and teaching. However, he seems happiest in his own workshop, working on batch production pieces. It’s safe to say he’s a pivotal figure in the recent history of British design.

    In this episode we discuss: standing on the edge of regular design practice; but not being a craftsman; how tools change design and the importance of a jig; creating cost-effective products; why ‘resourceful’ could be his middle name; the problem with design as an extension of marketing; his love of wood; not working with big Italian furniture brands; readymades and waste; how a trip to Ford’s Dagenham factory changed his life; struggling at school; and his discovery of modernism.

    It’s a delightful way to mark our centenary.

    Our thanks go to the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

    And to register for the Material Matters fair, which runs from 20-23 September at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf go to:

    https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/material-matters-2023-tickets-591491014547

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  • Alice Kettle is one of the country’s leading textile artists. She uses embroidery to tell stories and throw the spotlight on contemporary issues – most noticeably the refugee crisis in her series Thread Bearing Witness.

    Currently, she has a solo installation at two sites in The City of London as part of her prize for winning The Brookfield Properties Craft Award. While an exhibition she co-curated, Threads: Breathing Stories into Materials, opened at Bristol’s Arnolfini in July. She is also professor of textile arts at Manchester School of Art.

    In this episode we discuss: creativity as a humanising force; how the refugee crisis affected her practice; why making is empowering; the importance of scale; the special meaning of the number three; being influenced by Greek mythology; growing up in a boys’ boarding school; her interest in stitching after the tragic death of her mother; her move from abstract painting to thread; and taking risks with her pieces.

    Our thanks go to the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

    And to register for the Material Matters fair, which runs from 20-23 September at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf go to:
    https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/material-matters-2023-tickets-591491014547

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  • Beatie Wolfe is a musician and artist, who has in her time been described as a ‘musical weirdo and visionary’ and one of the ‘22 people changing the world’.

    In a relatively short career she has: created a 3D interactive album app and a musical jacket; worked in the world’s quietest room to develop an ‘anti-stream’; fired her music into space; made a documentary with the Barbican; designed an environmental protest piece, entitled From Green to Red, which was shown at the Nobel Prize Summit; worked with people suffering from dementia; and recorded a track for a 12 inch record made of bioplastic, alongside Michael Stipe.

    Her latest project, Imprinting: The Artist’s Brain, was on show as part of the recent London Design Biennale at Somerset House, and is a 'sonic self-portrait' that involves old-school telephones as well as a thinking cap designed by an iconic tailor.

    The theme running through all this is her desire to 're-materialise' music and give it back a sense of ‘tangibility and ceremony’.

    In this episode we discuss: keeping space rock in her pocket; her latest project at the London Design Biennale; being self-critical as a child; writing her first songs aged nine; working with renowned tailor Mr Fish; the importance of collaboration; sending her music into space; finding the balance between innovation and tradition; her childhood desire to be a ninja; being in a grunge band; the power of art; and the importance of neurologist Oliver Sacks to her career.

    Our thanks go to the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

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  • Ndidi Ekubia creates extraordinary, almost liquid-looking, vessels from silver. She graduated from the University of Wolverhampton in 1995, before going on to the Royal College of Art. Since then, her work has been shown internationally at exhibitions such as TEFAF in Maastricht, Masterpiece in London, and Pavilion of Art & Design in New York.

    Her pieces are held in Winchester Cathedral, Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum and The Asmolean Museum in Oxford.

    Currently, she has a series of vessels in Mirror Mirror, a new exhibition at Chatsworth House that also contains furniture, lighting, ceramics, and sculpture from designers such as Fernando Laposse, Samuel Ross, Faye Toogood, and Ettore Sottsass.

    Ndidi was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to silversmithing.

    In this episode we talk about: why she loves silver; the rhythm that lies behind her process; listening to the metal and trying not to ‘torture’ her material; silver’s memory; the importance of function; the African influence in her pieces; wanting to leave Manchester as a child but returning as an adult; her early love of Lowry; discovering metal as a student; having her work reassessed in the wake of Black Lives Matter; and her relationship with her gallery, Adrian Sassoon.

    We are delighted that the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters fair – is the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank.

    For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

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  • Henry Tadros is chairman of one of the country’s most renowned furniture companies, Ercol. The firm was founded by Italian immigrant, Lucian Ercolani, in 1920 but it really found its feet after the Second World War with the Windsor Range – an industrial version of a traditional craft chair – that is best known for its steam bending process and using a combination of elm and beech wood.

    Over the years, Ercol’s furniture, with its pared back – but somehow very British –aesthetic, has found its way into millions of homes across the globe.

    And the company has remained firmly in family hands. Henry is the fourth generation to run Ercol, taking over from his father, Edward, last year.

    In this episode we talk about: the manufacturer’s history with elm and beech; Dutch Elm Disease and its effect on the brand; turning to ash instead; launching his new brand L.Ercolani; working with designers such as Matthew Hilton, Tomoko Azumi and Norm Architects; joining the family business and working his way up from the factory floor; his family’s fascinating history; the influence of the Shakers; the importance of apprenticeships for Ercol; the company’s sometimes fraught relationship with Modernism; where Henry’s brands will be in 15 years time.

    We are delighted that the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters fair – is the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank.

    For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

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  • Donna Wilson is a globally-feted designer. She initially made a name for herself in 2003 with a series of knitted toy creatures made of lambswools, which managed to be odd and endearing all at the same time. Since then, she has worked with the likes of SCP, John Lewis, V&A Dundee, as well as having a solo show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

    Meanwhile, her range of products has expanded, encompassing furniture and accessories, sculpture, fashion, and magazines. There’s also a book. In 2010, she was named Designer of the Year at Elle Decoration’s British Design Awards.

    Most recently, she has launched The Knit Shop, a micro-knit factory in Dundee. She describes the new production facility as ‘my small bit to keep the tradition of knitwear and textile production in Scotland alive, so that these precious skills are not lost forever’.

    In this episode, we talk about: taking control of her production and the difficulty of manufacturing in the UK; how the pandemic re-shaped her business; becoming a brand; creating her creatures; preserving her craft essence; the importance of repair; having a poem written about her (yes, really); knitting; growing up on a Scottish farm and being inspired by her grandmother; and how getting spotted by New York design retailer Murray Moss changed her career.

    We are delighted that the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters fair – is the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank.

    For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

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  • Julian Stair is one of the UK’s leading ceramic artists. He has exhibited internationally since the 1980s and made his name making beautiful, pared-back everyday forms. Julian’s work is in 30 public collections, including the British Museum and the V&A and he was awarded an OBE in 2022

    In March, he launched a fascinating, and deeply moving, new exhibition at the magnificent Sainsbury Centre near Norwich, entitled Art, Death and the Afterlife. The show is his response to the pandemic and the cinerary jars and abstracted figurative forms invite visitors to meditate on the relationship between the clay vessel and the human body. To emphasise the point, in a number of the pots, the clay itself contains the cremated ashes of people donated by their loved ones.

    In this episode we discuss: how his new show was shaped by the pandemic; the relationship between the pot and the human body; why pots matter; using people’s ashes to create his work and reflecting their personalities in a vessel; art’s ability to cross boundaries; working against the tides of fashion; the importance of writing and history to his practice; and dealing with the death of his own son.

    This series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – is brought to you by the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

    Meanwhile, this episode has been sponsored by Maak, the specialist auction house and art consultancy dedicated to contemporary ceramics and craft. To find out more go to: maaklondon.com

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  • Paul Cocksedge is a London-based designer who has built a reputation over the past twenty years for creating projects that push the limits of technology and materials. During that time, for example, he has melted polystyrene cups in an oven to make a lamp shade, treated steel as if it was a folded piece of paper, worked with concrete from the floor of his own studio, and fused metal under the snow.

    His CV contains major exhibitions at galleries such as Friedman Benda in New York and Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London, installations in Milan, public art projects such as Please Be Seated and Drop for the London Design Festival and products that range from picnic blankets inspired by the pandemic to a bluetooth device that gives old speakers a second life.

    His most recent exhibition, called Coalescence, which was held earlier in March at Liverpool Cathedral, investigated coal.

    In this episode we talk about: why he decided to work with coal; going down a mine in South Wales; emotionally ‘feeling’ his ideas; the role anger plays in his creative process; his early fascination with light; the influence on his career of Marc Benda, Ingo Maurer, Ron Arad and Joana Pinho; making a steel table ‘dance’ and turning the concrete floor of his studio into furniture; wanting to be a pilot as a child; ‘bribing’ his way into the Royal College of Art with fake fivers; bonding metal under snow; and why he doesn’t want to be an architect.

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  • Ineke Hans is a world-renowned product and furniture designer. She originally studied art at Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Arnhem before switching to design. In 1993, she moved to London’s Royal College of Art and, subsequently, worked for Habitat as a furniture designer.

    By the end of the decade she was focusing on her own work and, since then, clients have included Ahrend, Arco, Iittala, SCP and Magis to name just a few. Currently, she spilts her time between Arnhem and Berlin, where she is professor in the product and fashion design department of UDK university in Berlin.

    Most recently she has created, Rex, a sustainable and recyclable chair for start-up company Circuform, which has won a slew of prizes – including product of the year at the Dutch Design Awards.

    As we’ll hear, the product has a bit of history and is a piece that perhaps points the way forward for the furniture industry.

    In this episode we about about: splitting her time between two countries; being a ‘critical’ designer; working with recycled plastic; the history of her award-winning chair Rex and how it’s breaking new ground; why her parents didn’t want her to go to art school; giving up sculpture for design; moving to London in the ’90s; not being part of Droog; and her fascination with furniture.

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