25th July 2018

What Matter_s: making science visible

From Vantablack to algae-derived plastics, it’s pretty amazing that despite being on this earth for a very long time, us humans are still discovering brand new materials. Conceived for Dutch Design Week in October, What Matter_s is a new project that seeks to highlight some of these cutting-edge investigations by pairing ten boundary-pushing designers with ten innovative material researchers working in the southern Swedish region of Skåne and asking them to collaborate over six months.

Research into new materials can often be tricky to put into production as companies don’t want to be the first to take a punt on an experimental new substance, meaning a lot of the pioneering thinking stays with academic institutions and never sees the real world. In that real world, designers are ravenous for new materials to work with but are rarely given the chance to access the clever bods coming up with experimental substances. That is, until now.

The 10 designers and 10 researchers for What Matter_s.

Organised by Southern Sweden Creatives, Form/Design Center, SPOK and the Art & Science Initiative, the aim of What Matter_s is to spark interdisciplinary collaboration between designers and scientists, with the loose goal of visualising research. The pairs could choose to integrate the the material itself into a project, or presenting the research through design in order to better communicate its potential.

The designers collaborating with the scientists, whose specialisms range from spider silk and smart bone to nanowire and bio-technology, include Andreas Kojcevski Hansson and Siri Skillgate, Jenny Lee, Jenny Nordberg, Petra Lilja, Kajsa Willner, Andréason & Liebel, Kunsik Choi, Superlab, Petter Thörne and Wang & Söderström. The results will be on show during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven between 20 and 28 October 2018.

Film still from ‘Material: Nanowires’, a collaboration between Wang & Soderstrom, Prof. Magnus Borgstrom & PhD student Vilgailé Dagyté.

But don’t worry if you can’t wait that long, Zetteler was commissioned to create a series of films about these fascinating collaborations so you don’t even have to leave your desk to see the latest in materials research. Directed and filmed by Zetteler's Andy Dunn, the series shows the exciting ride of the past six months; the joys, challenges and the bridges built between science and design.

Can’t wait until October, take a sneak peak of some of the films here.

Still from ‘Material: Bio Plastics’, a collaboration between Petra Lilja + Dr. Ramune Kuktaite.

Still from ‘Material: Hemp Composite’, a collaboration between Petter Thorne + Dr. Paulien Strandberg.

Film still from ‘Material: Nanowires’, a collaboration between Wang & Soderstrom, Prof. Magnus Borgstrom & PhD student Vilgailé Dagyté.

Keep an eagle eye on the project’s progress by following What Matter_s on Instagram here.