Milan Design Week 2024, the world’s biggest design fair, rolled out the green carpet under the theme "Materia Natura" daring designers to wrestle with the elements of matter and nature. That was the initial pitch, yet the event ended up parading more materialism than “Materia” or “Natura”. It is, indeed, never an easy task to stick with the theme (exhibit A: the recent Met Gala 2024's "The Garden of Time" and sustainability).
Despite this, some brands did manage to keep their compass pointed towards the theme "Materia Natura", and in the grander scheme, true North of non-greenwashing, natural and low-impact materials. In this kick-off to our series of Biodesign reports, we're diving into those who married materia with natura, spotlighting the rebels reshaping our material world.
Materials to watch
What do you think of when you think “natural material”? Here are our picks: monomaterial plastic, wood, hemp, mycelium, aluminium & steel. This choice is indeed not without debates - you might want to hear our criteria first. We chose them because they pack a punch in low-impact production and grace the end of their lifecycle with minimal fuss. They can be built to last, ensuring products don’t just live a season but a lifetime.
In the sections that follow, we'll make our cases of these materials, while parading the crème de la crème of designs from Milan Design Week 2024 that have turned these promising materials into tangible testaments of cleaner materials.
Monomaterial Plastic - is it better is it worse?
Monomaterial plastics are the industry’s nod towards simplification—made from a single type of polymer, they’re easier to recycle than their hybrid cousins. While they promise a potential greener goodbye at life’s end, don’t be fooled: production can still be a dirty affair, depending on the type of polymer used.
You probably know about Vivibarefoot x Balena monomaterial footwear venture: they've engineered a 3D-printed shoe entirely from compostable monomaterials. Unlike traditional footwear, which combines multiple materials and adhesives, these organic-looking shoes are tailor-made from scans of your feet, ensuring a perfect fit that's not only stylish but also fully biodegradable.
This year, Milan saw the work of Moon Rabbit Adaptive Lab. Their “Moon Landing” project took Vivibarefoot’s model to new heights, showcasing the prowess of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing in footwear. By refining their MoonRunner model and integrating Zellerfeld Shoe Company Inc. design guidelines, the team delivered a product that's not only custom-fit but also technologically advanced with distinct textures and optimised printing processes.
Wood - back into the spotlight
Wood is making a strong comeback, not in a nostalgic way, but potentially a great player in the realm of "Materia Natura". Designers we saw in Milan are gravitating towards types like low-impact, native wood; or reclaimed wood, which tells a story of past lives; and bamboo - even though, technically speaking, bamboo is a woody perennial grass in the grass family Poaceae. As natural as wood can sound, designers need to be aware that sourcing and certification can shadow linger, questioning the true footprint of our forested friends.
RAIKU, for example, strides into the packaging game with a wooden armour that promises the earth. Their wrap turns a cubic meter of wood into 20 cubic meters of shock-absorbing fluff. Though it might be an easy win against traditional plastic bubble wrap, the wood sourcing saga continues - how we can keep the sourcing truly sustainable, and what the end-of-life story with this material looks like.
At Milan Design Week, Tamart Design's "Powered by Love" exhibition subtly embraced natural materials in their wooden furniture, eschewing the loud sustainability banners for a more understated, but genuine approach. The showcase blended historical designs with modern flair, and was indeed a treat to the eyes and the touch.
Hemp - growing in popularity
Hemp is having a moment, becoming more and more present in the design industry. Exhibit A would be Mosca Partners’s grand hemp-cement brick installations at Milan Design Week. This ancient material requires minimal water and pesticides, and sequesters CO2 efficiently. However, as hemp scales up in mainstream markets, the full life cycle impact, especially in diverse climates and soils, still awaits a deeper dig.
Beyond fabrics and isolations, one interesting application of hemp is hemp-based leather. LOVR™, the invention of Revoltech and their plush, plastic-free marvel, promises to break down in your home compost within 90 days (trial phase).
At Milan Design Week 2024, Husarska Design Studio and The True Green are turning heads with their Rehemptation product line. With pieces like the minimalist HempStool and the playful HempSwing, they're proving that hemp wood can also be an interesting biomaterial to look out for.
Mycelium - the coolest kid in the block
It is not difficult to discern the popularity of mycelium-based materials. If we talk numers, mycelium market boasts a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27.48% to 2032. Indeed, mycelium offers a cleaner blueprint by repurposing agricultural waste. But don't get too giddy — while it's renewable and biodegradable, the real challenge lies in scalability and durability in everyday use.
One notable application of mycelium is MuSkin, the suede-soft invention of Pangaia Grado Zero. Crafted entirely from a parasitic fungus, each piece is handcrafted with all its rustic charm. Another application is in shock-absorbing packaging. By collaborating with farmers to reuse crop residues that would otherwise burn, contributing to air pollution in India, Mushloop creates alternative to synthetic, single-use cosmetic packaging.
At Milan Design Week, we saw the work of Kineco Bio, who is sprouting new design possibilities with HedelComposite, their mycelium DIY kit that grows into anything from eco-friendly packaging to home decor in just a week. But while it's a fun fungi party, the question remains on the finish of products which can vary, so it might not be a go-to for everything just yet.
Conclusion
As Milan Design Week wraps up, it is clear that while some gems might pulse to the beat of ‘Materia Natura’, the majority still sway to the old tunes of traditional product design. This year, while Isola Design Festival proclaims "This Future is Currently Unavailable," at tocco, we see things differently.
The cleaner future is not a distant dream — it's already here, just unevenly distributed. We are standing on the brink of a design revolution, one that doesn't need to materialise in 30 years, but around the resources we already possess.
Next year’s Milan Design Week theme? If it drifts away from natural materials, we might be looking at an era of upcycled innovations or perhaps a deep dive into new ways of low-waste fabrications. The possibilities are simply exciting.
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Read Biodesign Report 2024 - Part 2 - New Technologies to watch
Once the 5 parts are all published, our team will compile them into a downloadable PDF.
In case you want to contribute to the report, or you see great biodesign and biomaterials that we absolutely should know about, ping us at contact@tocco.earth
