Simon Keane-Cowell Materials

Issue 01 – Your new monthly round-up of the best brand stories. Insightful, inspiring and often entertaining. Very Architonic!

There was strength (and warmth) in numbers at this year’s Stockholm Design Week and Stockholm Furniture Fair.

The third edition of Switzerland's largest design event brought together emerging talent and established names for an investigation into circularity, place-making and contemporary design practice.

Leaves aren't the only things changing. October was packed with industry gatherings to discuss new ways to tackle our shared future – while we proudly launched our new DAAily insights tool, which will help fuel yours.

We're all in this together. Architonic's autumn kicks off with circularity and community.

Climate action and actioning innovation. An Architonic summer.

In the latest in our series of Architonic interviews with leading sustainability experts globally, we pose a focused set of no-nonsense questions to Marloes Fischer, founder and managing director of Swiss-based Circular Hub. The call goes out to

Axel Schmid's illuminating discussion at Light + Building defends our use of artificial light as a material: 'Light consumes energy, but you cannot live without it.' Watch the video for more…

Sascha Rullkötter of SOP discusses targeting timeless and flexible solutions over identifiable architecture: 'We are not the creator of big signatures.' Watch the video to hear more…

David Marquardt of MACH Architektur explains why flexibility is key for modern workspaces: 'You don't need big meeting rooms, sitting empty.' Watch the video to hear what else he has to say…

'Applying international and globally recognised certifications is not enough if there is no "self-certification",' argues the award-winning office's top team.

The energy crisis, energetic thinking on sustainability and the power of lighting design.

Dori Sadan of m-i-r-a explains his priority when designing a project's materiality: 'We address the bones of the space first, the surfaces.' Watch the video to hear more…

Martin Postler of innovationist industrial-design studio PostlerFerguson reminds us of the challenges to, and the potential for, the design industry adopting a truly circular economy.

India Mahdavi explains the use of furniture beyond the functional: 'I use furniture architecturally as a main identifying element.' Watch the video to hear what else she has to say…

Global Design Agenda's Sustainability Design Week speakers stress the need to design and build sustainable cities for survival.

Craig Robertson of AHMM explains the opposing factors of modern architecture: 'Different stakeholders have different ideas of what a good building is.' Watch the video to hear what else he has to say…

Martin Voelkle of BIG discusses sustainable architecture: ‘If it’s made from sustainable material, then you should be able to see it.’ Watch the video to hear more…

DAAily platforms launches in a super-hot Milan, while we cool down with the Global Design Agenda Bathroom Design Week

Marc Sadler discusses combining functional intelligence with emotional environments in bathrooms, 'Design is tech that you control and style.' Watch the video to learn more…

Matteo Thun discusses eliminating bathroom touch points: 'The future of the bathroom is touch-free. You need clean, big surfaces.' Watch the video to learn more…

Find out why the recently renovated Interni flagship store in Milan is symbolic of the Italian company's larger goal of offering full-service partnerships to designers and architects worldwide.

Against the backdrop of a potential global food crisis, our Kitchen Design Week speakers discuss the future of the kitchen, both functionally and culturally. And, in the near future, our DAAily bar in Milan opens its doors.

Cristiano Pigazzini and Daniel Heckscher of Note Design Studio converse on future kitchen requirements: 'It is cheaper to get food than to prepare food.' Watch the video to hear more…

Dries Otten discusses keeping things simple in kitchen design: 'I always try to bring it down to the basic question, what do we really need?' Watch the video to hear what else he has to say…

Monica Armani discusses the materiality of outdoor furniture: 'There are many secrets that everyone working in the outdoor market knows.' Watch the video to learn more…

Patrick Jouin of Patrick Jouin iD introduces the hardwearing comfort of new outdoor materials: 'We have fabric that can resist the sun and the rain, that is so sensual.' Watch the video to learn more…

Luca Nichetto of Nichetto Studio discusses designing for outdoor as if it were indoor: 'You can take a sofa that is designed for outdoor and put it in your living room.' Watch the video to learn more…

MAKE's Katy Ghahremani discusses selecting furniture early in the design process: 'It's important to show clients the materiality of spaces in the context of the FF&E.' Watch the video to learn more…

Alfredo Häberli of Alfredo Häberli Design Development discusses furniture that touches the soul: 'You can ask, is this piece of furniture design talking to me or not?' Watch the video to learn more…

Benedetta Tagliabue of EMBT discusses an architect's desire to design all parts of a project, including the furniture: 'Everything goes together and everything is a whole.' Watch the video to learn more…

Sebastian Herkner discusses respecting well-designed products: 'It's important to cherish a product, to keep it as an investment.' Watch the video to learn more…

Patrick Lüth of Snøhetta discusses creating sustainable and site-specific hospitality: 'We want to create a unique, specific atmosphere derived from the physical location.' Watch the video to learn more…

Edward van Vliet discusses how he creates unique hospitality experiences from the ground up, arguing that 'when you start with the floor in a certain pattern, then you have done half of your work.' Watch the video to learn more…

Diego Gronda of Studio Gronda discusses designing for the guest experience and sustainable, adaptable interiors: 'We cannot keep on demolishing structures.'

Thomas Spranger of Max Dudler discusses how a project’s architectural language is inspired by its environment: ‘From the very start, we think in terms of materials.’

Antoine Chaaya of Renzo Piano Building Workshop discusses how a site’s soul can inspire its materials and the poetic voices in certain buildings, ‘when buildings start to sing, we are in architecture.’ Watch the video to hear more…

Get some bonus surface insights and tips from our design week experts – Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, Peter Bundgaard Rützou and Joaquin Vaquero!

‘An architect defines a space, but its real meaning comes from its surfaces,’ says Joaquin Vaquero of CLK Architects. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

‘We tend to go back to surfaces that allow time to pass, that show the imprint of what happens,’ says Peter Bundgaard Rützou of Space Copenhagen. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

‘The ultimate goal is that an empty space should feel welcoming just by the choice of materials,’ says Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

Get some bonus flooring insights from Jan Parth of David Chipperfield Architects, Peter Ippolito from Ippolito Fleitz Group and MACH Architektur’s David Marquardt.

‘The floor is the foundation of any design in the end,’ says David Marquardt of MACH Architektur. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

‘A surface is always the last touchpoint of a proof of concept,’ says Peter Ippolito of Ippolito Fleitz Group. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

‘The installation of flooring on site is when the project becomes a real building,’ says Jan Parth of David Chipperfield Architects. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

Jan Parth from David Chipperfield Architects, Peter Ippolito of Ippolito Fleitz Group, and MACH Architektur's David Marquardt share some thoughts on the ground beneath our feet.

Get some bonus textile insights from Hella Jongerius, Sevil Peach and Cristian Zuzunaga.

‘Textile designers are too deep into the process. I prefer not to know much,’ says Cristian Zuzunaga. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

‘Textiles can be the primary tool in the creation of a space,’ says Sevil Peach. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

‘We only think of textile as a flat surface, as a skin. But it's really a constructive material,’ says Hella Jongerius. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

Professional insights all week from Hella Jongerius, Sevil Peach and Cristian Zuzunaga on the active benefits textiles can deliver in defining and articulating space.

Nominated for this year's Design Prize Switzerland, Zurich-based designer Beat Karrer's material innovation FluidSolids, with its strong ecological credentials and impressive programmability, is poised to give traditional materials like metal and

For a colourless, odourless gas, CO2 packs a punch. It now accounts for 76% of all greenhouse-gas emissions. So how do you communicate to a fair-going public the relative merits of different materials when it comes to carbon emissions? Materials

Materials Council has been busy. Founded in partnership with Architonic in 2012, the leading London-based consultancy has proved in a mere nine months its expertise and relevance to architects, manufacturers and business, providing indispensable

If you think textile design is, well, a little two-dimensional, think again. Contemporary producers of high-quality woven materials for interiors are busy exploring all sorts of innovative directions in terms of materials, processes and applications.

White. But not as you know it. Newly launched creative materials consultancy Materials Council's inaugural show at this year's Super Brands London neatly demonstrated that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to that most pure of colours.

Architonic is proud to announce the launch of Materials Council – a new partner company in which it has a significant participation – at the London Design Festival, September 2012.