Seminar: Material Depot – What Matter_s 3.0

28 Nov 2025 / 16.30 - 18.00

Seminar

Floor 3

Material Depot brings together some of the Nordic region’s most innovative actors in material-driven design, architecture, and research for a seminar on the future of sustainable material development. Through inspirational talks and panel discussions, the event highlights new perspectives on bio-based materials, regenerative methods, and cross-disciplinary collaboration within the manufacturing industry.

How can materials be created, used, and circulated in ways that strengthen ecosystems, local communities, and the creative sector? In connection with the opening of the group exhibition What Matter_s 3.0, SPOK and Form/Design Center invite you to an in-depth seminar focused on material innovation. By bringing together international and Nordic voices – designers, architects, researchers, and industry partners – the event creates a shared platform for exploring sustainable material practices of the future.

The seminar presents current projects and research-based approaches from Natural Material Studio, RIFT, and Material ConneXion, three actors who in different ways are reshaping how we understand the role of materials in design and manufacturing processes. Through examples of bio-based materials, regenerative architecture, and circular knowledge exchange, the seminar opens up discussions on how we can shift from linear, resource-intensive systems to more resilient, caring, and long-term structures.

The evening concludes with a panel discussion featuring Natural Material Studio, RIFT, and Material ConneXion together with participants from the project What Matter_s 3.0, who share insights from their cross-disciplinary development work, lessons learned from collaborations between creatives and industry, and their perspectives on the material landscape of the future.

The evening is moderated by Anna Gudmundsdottir, project manager for SPOK at Form/Design Center.

Participants

Clara Malling, Natural Material Studio
Julia Andersson, RIFT
Nicolai Jæger-Larasse, RIFT
Kine Jæger-Larasse, RIFT
Magnus Göransson, SWEN Creative
Max Gerthel

Moderator

Anna Gudmundsdottir

Location

Form/Design Center, Floor 3

Organizer

SPOK and Form/Design Center

For who

For all

Cost

Free

Registration

What Matter_s 3.0

Utvecklingsprojekt

What Matter_s 3.0 is an interdisciplinary development project in which 10 creatives and 6 industry partners collaborate around the theme “Materials and the Manufacturing Industry.” The project is carried out in 2024–2025 within the framework of Cross Innovation Southern Sweden, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Region Skåne’s Cultural Administration, and Region Blekinge.

Participants

Inspirational talks with Natural Material Studio, RIFT, and Material ConneXion, followed by a panel discussion together with designers from the What Matter_s 3.0 project.

Natural Material Studio

Natural Material Studio is an award-winning design and research studio based in Copenhagen, redefining material innovation for a rapidly changing future. Founded in 2018 by Bonnie Hvillum, the studio transforms natural and discarded resources into bespoke biomaterials, objects, and environments that seamlessly combine functionality, artistry, and circularity. Through inventive design processes and architectural structures, Natural Material Studio strives to shape a more sustainable and interconnected world.

Natural Material Studio

RIFT

RIFT (Regenerative Ideas For Tomorrow) is a Nordic collective and research platform exploring how architecture and material practices can become regenerative rather than extraction-based. Grounded in artistic exploration, craft, and environmental science, RIFT challenges dominant building systems that rely on industrialised and resource-intensive processes. Instead, they propose new ways of understanding the built environment as an active part of ecological cycles.

rift collective

Material ConneXion

Material ConneXion Skövde is Northern Europe’s hub within the global materials library Material ConneXion, whose six other full-service offices are located in New York, Milan, Tokyo, Bangkok, Daegu, and Bilbao. The library consists of a collection of more than 10,000 innovative, environmentally friendly, interesting, and inspiring materials. All are categorised, allowing users to search for suitable materials based on the properties required for a given application – ranging from graphene to fish scales.

Material ConneXion

Magnus Göransson, What Matter_s 3.0

An industrial designer with 25 years of experience in the field. He has worked in design studios in Sweden, the USA, Denmark, and France, and has held in-house roles at Sony and LEGO. Today, he works as a freelancer at SWEN Creative AB. Within the What Matter_s 3.0 project, he collaborated with Zaarstone, a company that produces exclusive stone products with a strong focus on quality and craftsmanship.

Max Gerthel, deltagare What Matter_s 3.0

An architect educated at the Royal Danish Academy’s School of Architecture in Copenhagen. He has worked at architecture offices in Copenhagen, Paris, Beijing, and Malmö, and has run art projects, a gallery, and a residency programme in Beijing. Since 2020, he has operated his own practice focusing on small-scale architecture, including reuse, extensions, refurbishments, and interior design, often in collaboration with other creatives. In What Matter_s 3.0, he collaborated with Betongdesign, a company specialising in unique and sustainable concrete products for both interior and outdoor environments.

What Matter_s 3.0

29 NOV 2025 – 10 JAN 2026

Exhibition

Floor 3

The exhibition presents the results of the development project What Matter_s 3.0, in which creatives and manufacturing industry partners have worked together in interdisciplinary collaborations around the theme “Materials and the Manufacturing Industry.”