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Altermatter | The Future of Alternative Materials

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Altermatter | The Future of Alternative Materials

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Continuing its pioneering work in using heritage craftsmanship to transform natural waste such as shell, bamboo and abaca into fine surfaces and products for leading architects and interior designers, at this year's Les Rendez-vous de la Matière + fair(e) Nature Squared presents an installation introducing two novel collections of materials, one of handwoven natural fibres robust and flexible enough for complex architectural forms, and the other in handcast crushed waste eggshell with ephemeral tactile patterns inspired by fossils. There is also a new series of elegant washbasins made of inlaid seashell and eggshell, alongside a recent brand collaboration of taps to match, designed in partnership with Dornbracht.

The latest addition to Nature Squared's collection of woven surfaces, ILIMITADA, stands out for its innovative handmade weaving and yarn weft insert, which add extra strength to the handwoven three-dimensional surface. Suitable for use for a wider range of architectural features, walls, floors and accessories, the six-piece collection is available in three colours.

Nature Squared also introduces TRACES, its latest sustainable cast collection of surfaces made from eggshell waste. Suitable for all interiors, including bathrooms, and influenced by intricate impressions of plants fossilised in limestone, the earthy palette of enigmatic graphic patterns ranges from subtle beiges and creams to darker shades of brown.

A collaboration with Dornbracht, the leading manufacturer of premium bathroom and kitchen fittings, presenting custom versions of Dornbracht's signature MEM taps, handmade by Nature Squared craftspeople using sustainably sourced natural mussel shell, hatchet shell, black agate, black or white pearl shell callisto, pen shell or eggshell.

A new collection of washbasins inspired by the soft glow and hues of the setting sun, reflecting the play of sunlight on water and the rich natural beauty of the seashell and eggshell that are inlaid into the basins by hand, by Nature Squared's master craftspeople. The natural materials, glass and movement of water transform the washbasin into a sculptural work of art with a luxury surface, transforming bathroom interiors by adding a splash of the unexpected, yet with a sophisticated touch.

Nature Squared co-founder Lay Koon Tan will be present during this year's event and on Wednesday, 11 October at 17h15, will participate in a round table discussion with Isabelle Daëron, founder of Studio Idaë and Julie Pariset, Innovation and CSR Director, Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp, on the subject of Nature as a source of creation, exploring how objects, spaces, and cities can be designed to preserve nature.

Please contact us HERE for more information, samples, collaborations or to discuss a specific project.

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les rendez-vous de la matière 2023 - Nature Squared

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Continuing its pioneering work in using heritage craftsmanship to transform natural waste such as shell, bamboo and abaca into fine surfaces and products for leading architects and interior designers, at this year's Les Rendez-vous de la Matière + fair(e) Nature Squared presents an installation introducing two novel collections of materials, one of handwoven natural fibres robust and flexible enough for complex architectural forms, and the other in handcast crushed waste eggshell with ephemeral tactile patterns inspired by fossils.

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Like the idea of using used umbrellas for bags because of the waterproofness of material

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Using old bread and resin for lights , recycling but don’t like using resin.

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Using scrap materials from construction sights for jewellery, would be dangerous to spring up at a construction sight.

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Tires to bags would be fun to work with rubber but need to be carful of fumes.

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Using natural materials as dyes.

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Crisp packet - material is foil

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Sweets packet - material - plastic

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Seeets packet - material paper foil

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Sticker packets - plastic

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Sticker backs - material plastic

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My work place is mainly plastic and cardboard - the card board is collected and is payed to be collected so that they get recycled

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A collection of household waste from both year 2 and 3

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Bubble wrap and styrofoam

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- durable

- Waterproof

- Not stinky

- Plastic

- Clear plastic

- Coloured plastic

- Cloudy plastic

- Recyclable but only at supermarkets not at home

- Smooth texture

- Glossy

- Very long biodegrading process

- 1000s of years to break down fully

- Releases toxic fumes when burned

- Toxic to ingest

- Pollutes waters

- Pollutes earth

- Man made

- Plastic are polymers

- Plastics are made up of petrochemicals

- Natural gas or petroleum , a type of oil

- Chemical engineers refine the petroleum by heating it

- Produces ethylene and propylene which are the chemical components for plastics

- Now there’s plastics made without oil using planet based material and bacteria called bio plastics

- This is good because other bacteria can eat these bio plastics

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When heated the foil part started to separate from the paper but anymore heat would burn the paper so left it and as the foil cooled the creases from the heating smoothed out

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Scrap acrylic clear with brass and a stone in between, used iron to heat but the clear acrylic turned cloudy .

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Layered acrylic scraps together and iron heated them together so that they all stuck together

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Puzzled pieces of scrap acrylic together and heated together

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Used clear acrylic and scrap metal sandwiched and heat with iron but because of the clear acrylic all the dust of metal and other debris became visible

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Sticker packaging , was vey thin plastic so when folding would spring and not hold the fold because of how thin it was

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Used the folded sheet of sticker packaging to heat to see if folds would stay but instead a hole was made when heat was too intense

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Cut the sticker package up so that the shape was different

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Cut from plastic bottle then colours with glass paint, glass paint will come off when attached to something else or can scratch off .

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Starts after this point

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Partner Karen

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Fans that can be hair ornaments

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Aim is to add colour onto existing clear plastic

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Tried adding colour with weaving in coloured material but the material is was thicker than the plastic so plastic snapped

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Stuck the coloured material foil together

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Plastic sheet cut in lines almost all the length of sheet then rolled and taped

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Cut plastic sheet as a strip , very long making it snap easy so stuck on a stick so that can find the end

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Sheet cut with holes but when heated holes fused together

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Cut plastic in lines continuously but not alto the way along the sheet then stuck to a stick and rolled around then heated.

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First attempt at adding colour onto plastic used marker pen and added different colours  , works but isn’t consistent colour distribution and fumes come of when heating.

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Tried maker pen again on plastic as the colour seems to seal in when heated , so tried scoring design onto the plastic but when heated the lines fuse back together so scored surface does not work

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Tired using only 2 colours and cutting strips, works better for getting colour but still quit dotty the colour

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Tried doing thinner strips works better but still got dotting at the bigger strips

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Did even smaller strips and and was too small strips bundled yup

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Tried 2 layers of colour still not enough layer to make consistent colour coat

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Used 4 better but still dotty

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Used 5 layers , colour consistent

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Tried different method of not rolling to heat but not as effective

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Tried doing a full strip with colour mix didn’t work that well crumpled up into itself

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Tried very thine doesn’t work well

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Did very thin and mix looks like a jelly fish

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Heated multiple strip colours on a stick

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