Material Matters with Grant Gibson

Anna Foster is the founder and creative director of the sustainable fashion brand ELV Denim – a company that has saved thousands of pairs of jeans from going into landfill, upcycling them into something genuinely desirable instead. She started her career in magazines and worked as a fashion editor for 20 years at titles such as Exit and i-D, before becoming fashion director at Lula and fashion director-at-large at Australian title RUSSH. Since launching ELV – short for East London Vintage – in 2018 she was won a slew of awards, nominations and accolades, including Responsible Brand of The Year from Country & Town House and Walpole’s Brands of Tomorrow 2025. In this episode, she talks about: why women are born to innovate; what happens to our old clothes; reworking existing garments into something new; finding all her makers within a three mile radius of the studio; celebrating skill; the issues with denim and how ELV strives to solve them; valuing things other people don’t want; her dislike of stretch denim; being an ‘environmental enthusiast’; extending her material palette and making pieces from old hotel linen; the importance of collaboration; and the meaning of the word luxury. Important fact check: Grant misread some of his statistics in this episode. We produce between 4.5 to 6 billion pairs of jeans a year and a pair of jeans uses 3,800 litres of water to produce. We’re happy to correct these errors. Support the show

Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez is the co-founder of the seaweed-based packaging company, Notpla. He and Pierre Paslier started working together in a kitchen while students at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College in 2013 and have since gone on to create a genuinely global brand. Essentially, Notpla aims to replace single-use plastic products – a huge issue with the world producing somewhere in the region of 400 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, and packaging estimated to account for 33 per cent of that. Like many people, Material Matters first came across the company a little under a decade ago when it launched Ooho, an edible bubble made from a seaweed membrane that contained water – or in some instances a rather strong cocktail – and, since then, the company has gone on to win numerous awards, including the inaugural Earthshot Prize in 2022. In this episode we talk about: the mis-use of plastic; Ohoo’s curious name; using seaweed at the London Marathon; why the material is the perfect replacement for plastic; the historic uses of seaweed – in glass, medicine and even beer; making paper and spoons from the material; flying water balloons over Hyde Park; how Notpla started as a side project; the importance of crowd funding to its beginnings; working from a kitchen table and being ‘parasites’ of Imperial College; scaling up; meeting resistance from the plastic industry; concerns over bio-plastics; the effect Covid had on the company; and not wanting to be an architect. Support the show

Shubhi Sachan is a multi-disciplinary designer and the founder of Material Library of India. The New Delhi-based library was the first of its type in India and acts as a research and design consultancy committed to unlocking the potential of industrial and agricultural waste – of which India, a country with a population of over 1.4 billion people, has plenty. Over the years, MLI has worked with brands and organisations such as IKEA and the British Council, as well as presenting work and ideas across the globe, including at last year’s Material Matters London where it reimagined cotton as a climate-adaptive, culturally rich material. In this episode Shubhi discusses: setting up MLI in 2017; why she decided to tackle waste in the first instance; India’s relationship with textiles and ‘waste colonialism’; the importance of the ‘rebirth’ of industrial materials; how natural materials can look after themselves; her recent project on cotton and why the crop needs to be re-thought; opening a thrift store where textiles are the currency; refusing to reject capitalism; curating seeds for IKEA; creating streetwear from rejected condoms; studying in England; becoming a successful surface designer; and why her family have questioned her career choices. Support the show

Carole Collet is professor in Design for Sustainable Futures at Central Saint Martins. She is also director of Maison/0, the CSM – LVMH creative platform for regenerative luxury and co-director of the Living Systems Lab, a research group at the same university. During 2000, she founded the Textile Futures course at CSM, which went on to become Material Futures and has spawned a string of brilliant students attempting to get to grips with some of the most important issues of the day. Several have appeared on this podcast. She is, in many respects, the grande dame of new materials thinking. In this episode we talk about: the two platforms she runs at CSM; how creativity can be a catalyst for regenerative luxury; what terms like bio- and regenerative design mean to her; working with UNESCO in Bolivia; creating lab-grown fur; plastic problems in the Philippines; her groundbreaking BIOLACE project; founding the Textile Futures MA and creating ‘disobedient’ design courses; a brief history of fast fashion; the magic of mycelium; growing up in the French countryside and working in her mother’s flower shop; becoming interested in ecology; and the importance of collaboration in her work. Support the show

This episode of Material Matters is as much about an object as it is a material. Tom Broughton is the founder of Cubitts, a modern spectacles company based in London’s Kings Cross. The company started in 2013 from his kitchen table and has grown to 20 stores across the UK and US, serving 250,000 customers across 100 countries. It offers frames in a number of materials – such as stainless steel and titanium – but is renowned for its use of acetate. According to the company’s website Cubitts was ‘founded to help more people live better lives through spectacles they proudly wear – and creating a better, and more responsible, industry along the way.’ In this episode we talk about: how early Modernism influenced Cubitts; living in (and loving) the Isokon building; founding his company and ‘literally doing everything’; not having a business plan; the joy of acetate and how the material defines his brand; a brief history of spectacles and London’s making legacy; why he has a problem with the word ‘eyewear’; being prescribed glasses at the age of 14 and collecting vintage frames in his 20s; getting bored easily and enjoying failure; disrupting the optics industry; being 'unrelenting' and making sacrifices in his personal life; and having an addictive personality. Support the show

Brodie Neill is a Tasmanian-born but London-based furniture designer, who has made a name for himself by creating pieces from waste and reclaimed materials. In 2016, for example, he represented Australia at the inaugural London Design Biennale with his exhibition entitled, Plastic Effects. In it, he showcased the Gyro Table, with a top made of fragments of recycled ocean plastic that had been salvaged from beaches in places like Hawaii and Cornwall. Over the years, his furniture pieces have been made from dowels, reclaimed school floors, and wood found in some extraordinary places. He has also collaborated with brands such as Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz and Alexander McQueen, while his limited edition works feature in museums and galleries around the globe. In this episode, we talk about: why he found himself in the Antarctic earlier this year; sharing a ship with over 30 scientists; the new work that is emerging from the 'adventure of a lifetime'; how finding plastic on a Tasmanian beach proved a pivotal moment in his career; creating the iconic Gyro Table; how he collects ocean plastic; creating high end products from ‘underwater’ wood and old school floors; unleashing ‘material potential’; inheriting his grandfather’s tools; day dreaming at school; and why he needs to be near making. And remember the inaugural Assemble with Material Matters takes place on 20 November at the Bank of England Conference Centre. Tickets cost £175 (+ VAT) and are officially available until 6 November. To secure your place click here Support the show

James Fox wears a couple of hats. He is director of studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and creative director of the Hugo Burge Foundation. As well as that he is a BAFTA-nominated broadcaster and an author with a brand new book out. Craftland: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Arts & Vanishing Trades is his journey through Britain to discover the craftspeople that literally make this island. En route he meets dry stone wallers, a rush weaver, a thatcher, a letter cutter and a watchmaker to name just a few. The book illustrates what we once had and what we could be in danger of losing, while also highlighting the importance of hand skill and materiality in a digital age. In this episode we talk about: why ‘craft’ remains a contentious word; craft as both a contemporary invention and an approach to life; the relationship between hand making and digital culture; how Fox discovered art as a child; bridging the divide between fine art and craft; the field’s ‘inherent diversity’; what the state could do to help makers; crafts potential role in the transition to Net Zero; why Craftland is ‘nostalgic for the present’; the importance of tacit knowledge; and why the future of making in Britain is bright. You can purchase a copy of Craftland here. The full programme for Assemble with Material Matters, our new one-day conference held at the Bank of England Conference Centre on 20 November, is available here. And you can secure your place at the conference here. If you love the podcast, you’ll adore the conference. Support the show

Bonnie Hvillum is a Danish designer and founder of Natural Material Studio, which, as the names suggests, makes its own materials using natural resources and various waste streams. Working at the meeting point between material science, art and design, the studio creates products, installations, exhibitions and research projects, working with clients such as adidas, Calvin Klein, Noma, Dinesen, Copenhagen Contemporary and the Danish Architecture Centre. Bonnie will also be part of Material Matters London, which takes place from 17-20 September at Space House, with her education platform focused on supporting curious creators who strive to craft a more holistic, local, and nature-minded future, The Material Way, which she runs with curator Rita Trindade. In this episode we talk about: being on maternity leave; founding Natural Material Studio and The Material Way; pushing the possibilities of materials; bonding history with the future… in a poetic way; casting textiles; her breakthrough moment; the craft behind her work; creating an interior you can melt; the importance of fluidity; ‘redefining wood’; studying Nordic literature at university; and being uncompromising but collaborative. Material Matters London runs from 17-20 September at Space House. Register here. And we’ve also opened a new on-line bookshop featuring many titles that have been talked about on this podcast. You can find that here. Support the show

Simon Terry is the brand and marketing director, as well as owner (or as he prefers to describe himself, custodian), of the iconic lamp company, Anglepoise, a product that has genuine claims to iconic status. Initially designed by George Carwardine in the 1930s and manufactured by Herbert Terry & Sons, over the years, the product has been used by the likes of Queen Elizabeth II, David Lloyd George, Picasso, Roald Dahl and Barbara Hepworth to name just a few. More recently, Terry has collaborated with fashion figures such as Margaret Howell and Paul Smith, as well as writing a design manifesto which talks about the importance of durability and repair. Importantly, the company now offers a lifetime guarantee for all its products. Happily too, it will be showing prominently at this year’s Material Matters London – which runs from 17-20 September at Space House – celebrating the 90th anniversary of the 1227. In this episode we talk about: the pros and cons of running a family business; being ‘a small company with a big name’; how mistakes can lead to opportunities; his morning routine (which involves a spring); how the Anglepoise stays in perfect balance; the genius of George Carwardine; the product’s evolution; why the Terry family handed the US market to Luxo; joining the family firm and making huge changes; his background in movies; initially feeling out of his depth; working with the brilliant Sir Kenneth Grange to reinvigorate the brand; the importance of repair; wanting to support design’s grassroots; and why materials and systems are the company’s future. You pre-register for Material Matters London here. Support the show

Lulu Harrison is a researcher and maker in sustainable material development. She creates glass pieces that have often been inspired by ancient making techniques, working with local and waste resources. Over the years, she has collaborated with historians, material scientists, and artists to create ‘geo-specific’ glass. Lulu has recently won the Ralph Saltzman Prize for her project Thames Glass – which uses various waste materials from the River Thames, including river sand, wood ashes and quagga mussel shells – and has had an accompanying solo show at the Design Museum in London. In this episode we talk about: moving to Cornwall and building her own studio; how glass is made and why Thames Glass is different; being inspired by traditional techniques; collaborating with everyone from academics to Murano glassblowers; using wine waste, river sand and mussel shells in her glass recipes; how Covid helped shape her practice; swimming in The Thames as a child; her (extremely) creative family; finding school tough; starting her own fashion label; and stumbling upon glass by ‘happy accident’. And remember, Material Matters London runs from 17-20 September at Space House. The fair is free for architects and designers but it’s vital you register in advance. For more details go to our website: material matters.design Support the show

Robin Givhan is the Washington Post’s senior critic-at-large, writing about politics, race and the arts. She won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2006 and is the author of The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History. Her latest book is entitled Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh, which charts the life of the late designer from his childhood in Rockford, Illinois to his position as artistic director at Louis Vuitton menswear collection in Paris, the first black person to serve in that role in the brand’s 164-year history. It also illustrates the profound changes that occurred in the luxury fashion industry over his short but fascinating career. In this episode, we talk about: why fashion matters; the role of the critic; Virgil Abloh’s ‘confounding’ qualities; how he created an extraordinary community; his imprint on fashion; how the world of luxury shifted around him; being the ‘ultimate non-perfectionist’; his controversial 3 per cent philosophy; judging value; craft and luxury; why the designer was ‘the right kind of Black man’; a pivotal relationship with rapper and producer Kanye West; the importance of T shirts; how Abloh became artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection; his tragic death; and his legacy. To buy a copy of Make it Ours, priced £20, from Material Matters contact us at: shop@materialmatters.design Support the show

Sabine Marcelis is a Rotterdam-based designer and artist who, in her own words, is ‘forever in search of magical moments within materials’. She’s probably best known for her work in glass, resin and stone, which often plays with light and water. However, most recently, she has been part of R100, a project with Hydro, which asks a group of internationally renowned designers to create pieces from 100 per cent post-consumer aluminium, sourced and produced within a 100-kilometre radius. It will be shown at Material Matters Copenhagen at Gammel Dok, Christianshavn from 18-20 June. Over the years, Sabine has collaborated with brands such as Vitra, Renault and IKEA and won numerous awards, including Designer of the Year at the Dezeen Awards in 2024 and the Monocle magazine Designer of the Year in 2023. In this episode we talk about: working with Hydro’s recycled aluminium; trying to find the limits of any project; not designing chairs; her relationship with resin and how best to use it; fountains; working in Mies’ Barcelona Pavilion; learning from IKEA; growing up on a flower farm; snowboarding; fighting for her ideas in Eindhoven; never wanting to work for anyone else; forging her studio in Rotterdam; and finding inspiration in unexpected places. Material Matters with Sabine Marcelis is sponsored by 3daysofdesign. Support the show

David Venables is the European director for the American Hardwood Export Council. Over the last 20 years, the organisation has created an array of extraordinary installations, sculptures and products – working with the likes of Alison Brooks, Waugh Thistleton, Heatherwick Studio, Jaime Hayon, Benedetta Tagliabue, and Stefan Diez to name just a few – that extoll the virtues of wood in general and US hardwood in particular. Its latest installation. No. 1 Common, will launch at this year’s Material Matters Copenhagen, which runs from 18-20 June at Gammel Dok, Christianshavn, and includes new pieces from Andu Masebo, Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng, and Daniel Schofield. Importantly, David is someone steeped in the wood industry from birth. This is a man who really knows his material. In this episode we talk about: AHEC’s new installation at Material Matters and why it’s vital to promote what nature provides; how the organisation chooses the architects and designers it works with; his post-Covid desire to promote a ‘lost’ generation of creatives; the relationship between fashion and wood; the history of the US hardwood forest and why it’s an environmental success story; the benefits of cutting down trees; President Trump, tariffs and selling American materials globally; growing up in the family saw mill; being fired as a salesperson; and, ultimately, why wood is his passion. Support the show

Rosa Whiteley is a designer, writer and researcher, who trained as an architect at Manchester School of Architecture and the Royal College of Art. Subsequently, she has worked within Cooking Sections, the Turner Prize nominated design and art collective, as a project manager and lead researcher and, since 2021, she has been the director of Material Research for CLIMAVORE CIC, which is a long-term, site-responsive project, exploring how to eat as humans change climates. As part of her practice, she has been working on the islands of Skye and Raasay in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, to develop building materials from waste seashells. In this episode she discusses: how CLIMAVORE promotes alternative ways of eating and living; issues around salmon fishing; the creation of a ‘multi-species intertidal table’ (and what exactly that might be); encouraging local restaurants to stop serving salmon and use bivalves instead; how that created a surfeit of shells; using the shells to create lime mortar and making tiles; worries around the circular economy; training as an architect but not wanting to build; and the politics of air and atmospheres. Support the show

Claudy Jongstra is a Dutch artist and designer who has become globally renowned for her, often monumental, textile installations and tapestries made from wool. After establishing her studio in Friesland in the Dutch countryside during 2001, she started an ecological venture, which involved maintaining a herd of indigenous sheep and creating a biodynamic farm near her studio to grow plants used for natural dyes – effectively combining her art with ecological stewardship. Her work is in the permanent collections of a number of museums such the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper-Hewitt in New York and the V&A in London. And she has won a slew of awards, including the 2022 Interior Design Hall of Fame Award. Not only that, she designed costumes for the Star Wars movies. In this episode she discusses: the ‘intelligence’ of wool; leaving her job and taking two years to understand the material; setting up her own farm; the organic nature of her career path; being an activist; the process behind her extraordinary pieces; the special qualities of the Drenthe Heath sheep; why we burn so much wool; the secrets of Burgundian Black; making really big pieces; her love of cooking; issues with the vintage clothing industry; working with her son; oh and creating costumes for the Jedi… Support the show

Tim Minshall is an expert in manufacturing and innovation. He is the inaugural Dr John C Taylor professor of innovation at the University of Cambridge, the head of the Engineering Department’s Institute for Manufacturing and a fellow of Churchill College. Importantly too, he has published a new book. Your Life is Manufactured: How we make things, why it matters and how we can do it better does exactly what it says on the front cover, working as a primer for our complex global manufacturing system and illustrating how we make, move, and consume the materials we extract, grow, or create. In this episode we discuss: different nations' attitude to manufacturing; Covid’s effect on global supply chains; how he treated a hospital like a factory during the pandemic; tariffs; lettuces; why reducing waste has led to fragility in our global system; manufacturing and trade-offs; the effect war has on innovation; not being a fan of GDP; the history of the shipping container; material change and the kettle; silicon and the digital revolution; creating too much data and AI; making things more sustainably; green hushing; and saving the planet through manufacturing. Support the show

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. Three years later she produced the hugely influential book, Why Materials Matter, and she has gone on to work with a variety of brands, including Nike, Selfridges and Potato Head in Bali, as well as teaching at institutions such as Central Saint Martins (where, incidentally, she graduated from the Textile Futures MA) and the Royal College of Art. Her latest project saw her joining forces with designer Jorge Penades in Madrid for Uprooted, an exhibition that explored Spain’s olive oil industry. In this episode, we talk about: helping people build a relationship with materials; why she’s working with olive tree roots; interviewing materials; her fascination with cookery (and her love of a cheese soufflé); growing up in Leicester and feeling rejected from her home city; the spiritual side of materials; being ‘broken’ by Central Saint Martins as a student; material discrimination; how her practice was built on frustration; and why she’s in a hopeful place. Support the show

Callum Robinson makes all sorts of things out of wood, as well as being the creative director of Method Studio, the company he established with his wife, Marisa Giannasi, 15 years ago. In 2024, he published a fascinating, lyrical memoir. Ingrained: The making of a craftsman, tells the story of his lifelong fascination with his material of choice, his relationship with his woodworker father, and running a small business in straightened times. Essentially, it’s a pean to the joy and importance of making things with your hands and to nature itself. In this episode we talk about: converting an old saw mill into his workshop; publishing Ingrained; the relationship between writing and making; getting into a ‘flow’ state; growing up with wood and how it makes him feel ‘at home’; the material’s ability to ‘radiate nostalgia’; why elm is ‘the tenacious, swaggering dandy of the forest’; the danger of woodworking; machine tool vertigo; his pivotal relationship with his father; opening his own store; and re-training his hands. Support the show

Neil Brownsword is one of the most intriguing – and uncompromising – ceramic artists currently practicing in the UK. His work is inspired by the de-industrialisation of his home city, Stoke-on-Trent, and, appropriately enough, his career in ceramics began when he worked as an apprentice in the Wedgwood factory as a 16 year old in the mid 1980s. Subsequently, he went on to study at the University of Cardiff and the Royal College of Art. Neil’s research examines the manufacturing histories of North Staffordshire’s ceramic industry, and the effects globalisation has had upon people, place and traditional skills in recent decades. Over the years, he has won numerous awards and exhibited across the globe, while at the same time maintaining an important career in education. He is currently a professor of ceramics at the University of Staffordshire. In this episode we talk about: his latest show at the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham, Surrey; historical copying in the ceramics industry; inducing failure; working at Wedgwood on a YTS scheme; being good at art in school; creating his early, sexually-charged pieces; not selling pots; why his work changed radically at the turn of the century; escaping the ‘stranglehold’ of narrative; becoming ‘a post-industrial factory manager’; bridling against ‘factory tourism’; putting industrial artisans on a cultural platform; investigating the ‘marginalised potential of the past’; and why it’s important to safeguard rather than preserve skill. Support the show

Zandra Rhodes is one of the most recognisable and influential figures in fashion, as well as the founder of the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. Describing herself as both ‘chaotic’ and ‘fastidious’, she possesses a unique sense of colour and pattern. Over the years, she has dressed some of the world’s most famous people from Freddie Mercury, Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Harry and Diana Ross to royals including Princess Anne, Princess Margaret and Princess Diana. She has also appeared on TV shows such as Absolutely Fabulous and Masterchef. Zandra was made a Dame in 2015, while this year, she published an intimate biography, entitled Iconic: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects, which shines a light on an utterly extraordinary career. In this Yuletide episode, we talk about: Zandra’s ‘more is more’ home and studio; the importance of working with your hands; festive fun with cult actor Divine; her collecting habit; becoming interested in textile design at art college; her love of drawing; nearly meeting Andy Warhol; why pink is a ‘complicated’ colour; how print leads the garment in her work; breaking America; Lauren Bacall stepping on a pin in her studio; working with the royal family and dressing Freddie Mercury; the influence of friendship and travel on her practice; dealing with cancer; and founding London’s Fashion and Textile Museum. Support the show