Materia is returning to London this spring for the second edition of May Design Series. From May 18^th – 20^th, Materia will be displaying a selection of the most innovative interactive materials for the design and build community.

Last year saw the first edition of the May Design Series, an important design show for the UK market. This year, we’re going to focus more on interaction. We’re asking how materials work and what they can do for us.

Split across three themes, the interactive materials are all examples of smart materials. Whether they respond in a creative or useful way to external stimuli, or add new technology to existing materials, or simply apply lessons from nature to a designed material, each of the over 100 materials on display has something intelligent innovation to add to the designed and built world.

The exhibition shows materials such as Newspaperwood, the ‘wood’ that is indeed made of newspapers, a leather made of mushroom spores, thermo-chromic foils, self healing polymers, anti-bacterial “shark” foils and 2,5 D printed surfaces.

Besides these examples, there is also the opportunity for visitors to get interactive with the materials on display with our ‘Discover’ element. This interactive display allows visitors to use a micro-camera to zoom in on certain materials to experience them in completely new ways. That means that everyone  interactively explore materials like the Organoids biobased composite, iridescent films, translucent wood and textured metals.

Besides the Materia team, there are lots of other reasons to visit the May Design Series. Well known design firms will be present, such as Foster + Partners, Mecanoo, and Philips, which will be showing its LivingSculpture 3D module. This system allows designers to produce three-dimensional arrays of OLEDs for walls and ceilings.

A curated series of seminars is full of interesting speakers, including Els Zijlstra, our creative director, who will discuss “Smart Materials in Architecture”  showing some exceptional examples.

There will also be forums on designing with light, how to make small spaces feel big, and much more. You can keep up with the action via our site, Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to seeing you in London next month!

More information and registration: www.maydesignseries.com.