What's on
From family support, fitness classes and learning to art exhibitions, festivals and talks, our activities are wide and far reaching.
Material Matters 2024 welcomes 50 world-leading brands, designers, manufacturers and organisations to Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, to celebrate materials and their ability to shape society.
We spoke to a selection of makers and designers from this exciting line up to find out what's in store this London Design Festival!
Rosy Napper is a material researcher based in London, specialising in the sustainable development of waste based ceramics. Find out more about her new developed material, ReCinder:
Tell us a little bit about yourself, your brand, and what inspires you
"My name is Rosy Napper, I am a material researcher based in London. In 2022, while completing my degree at Central Saint Martins, UAL, I developed a material named ReCinder, made from recycled ceramic and waste ash that has been diverted from landfill.
ReCinder is a greener, waste-based alternative to industrially processed clay. The material is versatile and suitable for tiling, furniture, tableware and lighting due to its unique translucent quality.
I’m interested in the intersection of science and design and I love to make objects by hand, but I am also passionate about the environment and well aware that traditional ceramic practices are often considered the antithesis of anything remotely ‘sustainable’. Therefore ReCinder came from my innate need to make and experiment, combined with my moral obligation to improve the way in which we do it, for the sake of the planet."
What are you exhibiting at Material Matters this year, and what inspired this?
"I will be exhibiting a selection of work that showcases the wide range of applications that ReCinder is capable of. These will include floor and table lamps, a coffee table and a set of tableware designed in collaboration with ‘The Home of Sustainable Things’ – a design-led platform based in Islington that represents, develops and markets pioneering circular design solutions."
Why did you choose these products/installations to be exhibited at Material Matters?
"My intention with ReCinder is to show that despite being made entirely from waste, its uses are almost identical to that of conventional clay. It is possible to produce beautiful ceramic objects from recycled ceramic waste, without having to use any virgin materials, finite resources or rely on typically damaging mining practices that wreak havoc on the environment."
What interested you in a career in design, and what do you enjoy the most about your work?
"I have always been infatuated by art, which has been one of my greatest passions for as long as I can remember – creating, observing, all that good stuff. And while I consider myself creative, I am also very interested in scientific concepts, methods and the structures that these typically follow. When I discovered sustainable material development within ceramics at the New Material Award exhibition (2018, Amsterdam), it was a revelation. I had finally found a way in which to combine all my interests in a manner that suited me – that allowed me the creative freedom to create objects by hand, but through rigorous research and scientific experimentation. I still consider my design method as a balancing act of structure with artistic vision. And this is what I love the most about my work; that I get to wear so many different hats, which is endlessly engaging and incredibly fulfilling."
What excites you about showcasing your work in Material Matters?
"I have been a fan of the podcast for several years, and have attended the fair multiple times as an avid supporter. The Material Matters fair is always an exhibition highlight of my year, since material development is such an integral part of my work and I love to keep up with the work of other designers in this field, ceramic or otherwise. I feel very fortunate to be part of such a significant show and to have this opportunity to bring ReCinder to the Material Matters audience."
Can you tell us more about the sustainability of your ceramics?
"Ceramics is not an inherently sustainable practice, due to the high energy usage of firings, or the need for mined finite resources like clay and glaze materials, among other things. While the most sustainable practice would be to not fire anything at all, the ceramic industry is not slowing down any time soon. If left unchecked, these damaging practices would continue indefinitely, until all the resources have been depleted. My aim with ReCinder is to show that there are viable greener options for these practices and hopefully encourage change within the ceramics industry.
For every square metre of ReCinder tiles made, 24kg of waste is diverted from landfill. Other than being made from recycled waste products, ReCinder has other ‘greener’ characteristics, including:
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The ability to self-glaze. Due to its composition, it is possible to glaze ReCinder without any additional materials, reducing the need for conventionally mined glaze materials such as quartz.
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Lower firing temperature and ‘once-fired’. ReCinder fires on average at a temperature 60 degrees C below conventional porcelain and only requires firing once (not twice like traditional ceramics). This reduces the energy required to fire a ReCinder plate by about 47%."
How do your ceramics intersect science with design?
"Whenever I am developing a new material, I use contextual research and ceramic material knowledge to theorise a recipe. I fine tune the material over several iterations using control variables, like many ceramicists do in their glaze experiments. Once I have the material at a workable stage, I find the best way to work with it. For example, ReCinder works best when fired flat. The lack of clay means a lack of plasticity, making curved forms especially tricky. I also try to find ways to reduce my waste as much as possible. I make smaller tiles, as the larger the tile, the more prone they are to breaking at any stage of the process. I then build my pieces up using these tiles, into my desired design.
This is why my work has a lot of straight edges and utilises flat tiles. My designs reflect the capabilities of the material. I develop the material using a scientific method, but allow the material to dictate the final form. Even my ReCinder lights are a direct result of one of these experiments. I discovered ReCinder was capable of translucency during a material test for tableware, and this is what prompted me to develop ReCinder into lighting. The subjects of science and design go hand in hand when developing ReCinder, you could not have one without the other."
Thank you Rosy for being a brilliant Maker Spotlight!
We've got an exciting line-up of activity for London Design Festival at Oxo Tower Wharf, including the innovative, cutting-edge design fair Material Matters. Explore our full programme of events here: