Material Matters with Grant Gibson

Seetal Solanki on olive tree roots, cooking, and why materials matter.


Listen Later

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

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Material Matters with Grant GibsonBy Delizia Media

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

44 ratings


More shows like Material Matters with Grant Gibson

View all
Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

303 Listeners

Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

2,000 Listeners

The Food Programme by BBC Radio 4

The Food Programme

269 Listeners

Monocle on Design by Monocle

Monocle on Design

74 Listeners

The Audio Long Read by The Guardian

The Audio Long Read

841 Listeners

THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST by ADAM BUXTON

THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST

1,172 Listeners

The Week in Art by The Art Newspaper

The Week in Art

193 Listeners

Dialogues: The David Zwirner Podcast by David Zwirner

Dialogues: The David Zwirner Podcast

414 Listeners

Time Sensitive by The Slowdown

Time Sensitive

149 Listeners

The Great Women Artists by Katy Hessel

The Great Women Artists

515 Listeners

Homing In by Matt Gibberd and The Modern House

Homing In

79 Listeners

Haptic & Hue by Jo Andrews

Haptic & Hue

286 Listeners

grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven & friends by Sarah Raven

grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven & friends

204 Listeners

The Grand Tourist with Dan Rubinstein by Dan Rubinstein

The Grand Tourist with Dan Rubinstein

252 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

88 Listeners