Material Gap

Material Gap was a series of seminars open to the public and held annually in conjunction with the Stockholm Design Week. The purpose of Materials Gap was to bridge the gap between research on materials and the design and architecture sectors. The aim was to start incorporate cutting-edge research on sustainable materials into the design process. The idea is that designers and architects can play a very important role in bringing advanced research into real-life projects.

Materials Gap is a collaboration between Axfoundation, Bioinspired Forum and Swedish Design.

Material Gap 2010

The seminar was on how producers or designers could work in a sustainable way with new materials. Important new materials are being developed that rarely or never reach production. How could we bridge this gap?

Speakers: Guilio Cappellini, Cappellini; Martin Willers, Swedish Association of Designers; Anna Maria Orru, architect; Mikael Lindström, researcher, Innventia, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design; Erik Bresky, chancellor, School of Textiles, University of Borås; Sam Peters, No Picnic; Björn Flormman, The Materials Library

Material Gap 2011

The seminar was in conjunction with Stockholm Design Week in collaboration with Swedish Design and Bioinspired Forum. Focused on new materials and their properties.

Speakers: Arik Levy, designer; Marie-Louise Ainalem, scientist, European Spallation Source/ESS AB; Tom Dixon, industrial designer; Fredrika Gullfot, researcher/CEO, Simris Alg.

Material Gap 2013

The seminar was in conjunction with Stockholm Design Week in collaboration with Swedish Design and Bioinspired Forum. The conversation was about materials research, sustainability and the challenging link between design and research. How could we make sure we ask the right questions?

Speakers: Alisa Andrasek, designer at Biothing and Bloom Games, director at GAD UCL Bartlett London; Ross Lovegrove, designer, Ross Lovegrove; Lars Montelius, professor in nanotechnology, Lund University; Thomas Herrström, Swedish Designers, project manager at Codesign.

Material Gap 2014

The topic of Material Gap 2014 was digital lighting. Material Gap consisted of two parts: a workshop at the Norwegian Embassy in Stockholm and later that day an event at Berns with three speakers. Everything was organized in collaboration with Swedish Design and Bioinspired Forum.

Speakers: Daan Roosegaard, designer, Roosegaard Studios; Jenny B. Osuldsen, director, Snøhetta; and Professor Marc Fontoymont, Aalborg University.