Dutch Design Week 2023 takes place from 21 to 29 October in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Here, we present some of the most innovative material projects present, part 4 (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 5, part 6).

Behind Bioinnovations
In another project by Aalto University (for the first, see part 1), the Bioinnovation Center focuses on sustainable biobased materials, aiming to help the transition towards bio and circular economy. The aim is to create bridges between disciplines, to inspire thinking and to grow networks. The Bioinnovation Center community wants to explore new working methods in material research, and to share the learnings with others. The Center focuses on sustainable biobased materials, aiming to decrease the dependency of fossil-based materials and harmful chemicals. The main focus is on textiles and packaging.

Square Meters of Colour
Miriam Sanders is a painter that makes her own paint with pigments from her own environment: from forests to food waste, and all the things her cat has broken in the past two years. Each material asks for a different approach. Some materials, like sand and stone, can be ground with a mortar and pestle. Flowers, plants and food waste can be turned into pigments by using heat, alum and soda. And some metals, like copper and bronze, give beautiful different colours through oxidation.

Bioluminescence
The Wasatch Design Collective is focused on solving problems through folding. They designed a series of fold-it-yourself lamps made from bioplastics to reduce the amount of petroleum used in the manufacture and shipping of the products.

Growable Graphics
This signage system consists of hexagon-shaped tiles that are covered with local moss and lichen species. The tiles can be used to form letters, numbers, arrows and other shapes. Thanks to the wooden backing’s geometric shape, they can get arranged and combined in an endless variety. Improving the local biodiversity, the tiles live on the venue’s rooftop over the year and are harvested for events. The tiles can be used over and over, while hopefully sucking in more carbon than their production would have emitted.

Images via DDW