Material Matters with Grant Gibson

Nicola Turner is a UK-based artist who is best known for her use of horsehair and wool in her extraordinary, and often quite dark, sculptures. She originally trained as a theatre designer – working for the likes of the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Sydney Opera House – before doing a Fine Art MA in her fifties. 

Since then, her work has featured in a string of locations – most notably, the Courtyard at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2024. Currently, she has an installation at the chapel of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, as well as an upcoming exhibition at Annely Juda Fine Art in London’s Hanover Square.

In this episode, we talk about: discovering horsehair in a skip; naming her YSP show after a Shakespeare sonnet; her interest in death; her cancer diagnosis; visiting an abattoir as a student; her mother’s background in upholstery; creating site responsive pieces and using her intuition; how people respond to her work; moving from theatre design into fine art; opening her own studio in Bath, making clothes as a child; why she still writes to her school art teacher; and not being afraid to work at scale.

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Dublin-based architect John Tuomey first appeared on Material Matters in 2024 to talk about his brilliant memoir, First Quarter. Now he’s written the follow-up, unsurprisingly entitled, Middle Quarter. 

John is the co-founder of O’Donnell + Tuomey. He was the inaugural professor of Architectural Design at University College Dublin and visiting professor at Princeton, Harvard and Yale. Over the years, he has won numerous awards, including the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, and his practice is responsible for buildings such as V&A East, the Lyric Theatre Belfast, and the Glucksman Gallery in Cork. 

In this episode, he talks about: this year’s opening of V&A East; material as ‘tangible reality’ in architecture; why he wrote his new book (and why it isn’t a biography); being interested in mortality and melancholy; architecture and ‘endurance’; his relationship with his mother (and her friendship with actor Richard Harris); the purpose of poetry and the purpose of architecture; creating buildings with lasting value; being ‘lucky’ and working the way he wants; failure; the importance of music in his life; architecture as an ‘occasional art’; his inner drive; being drawn to the scared; oh... and telling Michael Graves to ‘fuck off’. 

You can buy the beautiful Middle Quarter here: https://shop.materialmatters.design/products/middle-quarter

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What if the materials a building needs are already sitting in a skip down the road?

Joel de Mowbray, founding director of Yes Make, joins Grant Gibson to explain how a regenerative design and build practice rescues high-quality construction materials from landfill — and builds a viable business around them. Earlier this year, Yes Make joined forces with interdisciplinary design collective Resolve Collective and architecture practice Material Cultures to launch Tipping Point East, a circular construction hub in east London that aims to divert tonnes of material from waste.

In this episode, we dive into the practical realities of reuse in construction. We discuss:

• Tipping Point East: Founding a circular construction hub and what it takes to make reuse work at scale.
• Cooking with what's in the fridge: How Yes Make designs around the materials it already has, rather than specifying from scratch.
• Elton John's purple kitchen: The strange, brilliant afterlives of salvaged fixtures and fittings.
• The 'wild west' of industrial sites: Working on the edges of the construction industry, and building a studio from materials already to hand.
• The challenges of reuse: Why the industry still finds it easier to demolish than to recover.
• Public engagement: Why bringing people into the process is central to the practice.

Joel also reflects on living on a former Dunkirk 'little ship', moving from Lambeth Council to start Yes Make, being a 'lost boy' growing up, why bike mechanics saved him, and how learning from — and working with — his father shapes the projects he takes on.

And remember, Material Matters London runs from 15-17 September at UNLOCKED Shoreditch. It's free for trade but you must register in advance. You can find more information here: materialmatters.design/The-Fair

New to the podcast? Head to materialmatters.design/podcast for our playlists — including 'Start Here', 'Design Icons' and our Material Focus collections on clay, timber, fibre and biomaterials.

Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences.

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Welcome to another summer bonus episode of Material Matters with Grant Gibson, this time in association with Hyosung TNC.

In this special episode, Grant talks to the South Korean company’s marketing and sustainability director, Simon Whitmarsh-Knight, about an intriguing new material the company is spending nearly $1bn to develop – a bio-based elastane (or spandex) that has the potential to revolutionise the clothing market. 

In this episode they discuss: the history of elastane and its ubiquity in the fashion industry; issues around the material and carbon emissions; how Hyosung TNC is looking to different solutions to reduce carbon; why the company is spending $1bn on an elastane made from sugar cane; building a new fully integrated production system in Vietnam; the importance of infrastructure and collaboration within the fashion world; traceability; how the new product performs and what other environments it could be used in; and the future of bio-based products. 

This episode has been sponsored by Hyosung TNC. For more information go to: https://www.hyosungtextile.com/en

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Can algae reshape a global beauty brand's material future? In this special summer bonus episode — recorded live at Aesop's Copenhagen store during 3daysofdesign — Grant Gibson is joined by Rebecca Lawson, Aesop's head of sustainability, and multi-award-winning artist and designer Jessie French, founder of Melbourne-based studio Other Matter.

In this episode, we dive into the collaboration between a heritage skincare brand and a pioneer of algae-derived polymers. We discuss:

• The Philosophy of Aesop: The history and ethos behind one of design's most-loved brands.
• Products with Purpose: Where sustainability sits inside the brand's DNA.
• Working with Algae: How Other Matter is turning a marine resource into a revolutionary material.
• Systems Design: Why the smartest sustainability is structural, not superficial.
• A Revolutionary Signage Film: The Aesop–French collaboration bringing algae into the built environment.
• Waste as Luxury: How Jessie is transforming her studio waste into a leather alternative.

Rebecca and Jessie also reflect on why the two forces joined up in the first place, and where their partnership could go next.

Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences.

This episode has been sponsored by Aesop.

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Can a $21 window help a nation survive a war? Harry Blakiston Houston, founder of Insulate Ukraine, joins Grant Gibson for this landmark 150th episode to discuss how a simple double-layer window — made from PET and manufactured entirely in Ukraine — is helping families stay warm, creating local employment, and offering a sense of normality in a country shattered by Russia's invasion. In this episode, we dive into what 'material intelligence' looks like when designing under the most extreme constraints.

We discuss:

• Cardboard to PET: How early cardboard prototypes evolved into a $21, locally-manufactured double-layer window.
• Trust, Innovation and Empathy: The values driving Insulate Ukraine's work, and why they matter in a crisis.
• Ukraine's Civic Heroes: Celebrating the people keeping the country running.
• An Unlikely Origin: How the death of the Queen helped lead to the founding of Insulate Ukraine.
• Designing Under Fire: The particular difficulty of R&D in the humanitarian aid sector, and building an installation system from scratch.

Harry also reflects on day-to-day life in a war-torn country, working with whatever materials people had to hand, growing up in Northern Ireland, how Catholicism and boarding school shaped his thinking, and why he wants to rethink the development sector altogether.

Find out more and donate at insulate-ukraine.org.

Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences.

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Can imperfection reshape modern industry? Hella Jongerius — one of the most influential designers of her generation, and one of the field's sharpest critical voices — joins Grant Gibson to discuss craft, colour, and her enduring fascination with the messy edges of mass production.

In this episode, we dive into the politics of materials and the discipline of long-term collaboration. We discuss:

• From Droog to Vitra: Emerging in 1993 alongside Jurgen Bey and Marcel Wanders, and what those early years taught her.
• Tough and Sweet: Developing her critical voice and taking aim at the design industry's obsession with newness and marketing.
• Materials Are Political: Why every choice of clay, textile or yarn carries weight.
• Avoiding the Path of Nostalgia: How to honour craft without retreating into it.
• Changing Industry from Within: Three decades of collaboration with Vitra, KLM, IKEA, Camper and Maharam.
• Colour as Communication: Why colour is a tool, not a decoration.

Hella also reflects on her major retrospective at the Vitra Design Museum, running studios across the Netherlands and Germany, her fascination with animals, and exploring her spiritual side.

Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences.

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Can a needle and thread mend more than fabric? Ceramic artist Leah Jensen joins Grant Gibson to discuss the radical pivot in her practice after a brain cancer diagnosis — and how stitching became a daily act of survival, documentation and repair.

In this episode, we explore making as medicine and the quiet power of slow, analogue craft. We discuss:

• Renaissance Patterns: The unexpected art-historical roots of Leah's intricate, geometric ceramic surfaces.
• 'Anti-Digital' Making: Why she rejects screens and software in favour of the hand, the eye, and the hour-long stitch.
• The Brain Tumour Book: How embroidery became a diary of diagnosis, surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy — exhibited this April at London's Fitzrovia Chapel with Cavaliero Finn.
• 'Sewing is an act of emotional repair': Using thread — and her own hair — to process trauma, memory loss and identity.
• Return to Clay: Re-entering the ceramic studio after illness, and how the two mediums now speak to each other.

Leah also reflects on collapsing behind a bar in the moment that changed everything, the role of her parents and partner in her recovery, and what making has taught her about being present.

You can support The Brain Tumour Charity via the Brain Tumour Book fundraising page: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/braintumourbookcharityfundraisingexhibition

Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences.

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Can we actually recycle cigarette butts, dirty nappies, and coffee pods? Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle and the reuse platform Loop, joins Grant Gibson to reveal how 'Material Intelligence' can turn global rubbish into a viable business.

In this episode, we dive into the economics of waste and the design of a circular future. We discuss:

• The ‘Milkman’ Model: How Loop is bringing back convenient reuse.
• Dirty Nappies & Chewing Gum: The tech behind recycling the ‘unrecyclable’.
• The Problem with Sandpaper: Why some materials remain a design flaw.
• Business of Rubbish: From a ‘worm poop’ startup to a global powerhouse.
• Politics & Sustainability: Building a green business in a shifting climate.

Tom also reflects on his journey as a refugee, dropping out of Princeton, and why his office is permanently filled with trash.

Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences, and sign up to our newsletter for regular updates and insights on material intelligence.

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Can a communication designer change the global conversation on rubbish? Sophie Thomas OBE—a rare blend of campaigner, chartered waste manager, and practicing designer—joins Grant Gibson to discuss her extraordinary, three-decade journey at the vanguard of sustainable design.

In this episode, we explore how ‘material intelligence’ and circular design thinking can inform activism. We discuss:

• Graphic Activism: How design can move beyond ‘guilt’ to create real environmental change.
• Rubbish Tours: a life-changing trip to a Dutch recycling center and what happens when you take a thousand designers to a landfill site.
• Obsession with the Toothbrush: Why a simple, ubiquitous object exposes a global design flaw.
• The Future of Ink: Why Sophie’s future career is shifting back to the most fundamental graphic material.

Sophie also reflects on starting her career at The Body Shop, working on the Earth Centre, and whether a designer can ever create without guilt.

Explore more: Visit materialmatters.design for more on our fairs and conferences, and sign up to our newsletter for regular updates and insights on material intelligence.

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