Material World

A deep dive into one material, one fabricator, one episode at a time.

10 Episodes

Episode 10

Paper

A mill making conservation paper by hand, sheet by sheet, from old cotton rags.

Hosted by Kenji Arakawa3 Mins

Episode 9

A brickworks firing with coal for the last time, and the kiln master who is switching to hydrogen.

Hosted by Kenji Arakawa3 Mins

Episode 8

A sawmill on why green oak is sold wet, and what happens to a frame as it dries in place.

Hosted by Kenji Arakawa3 Mins

Episode 7

Hempcrete walls, hemp insulation and a grower who thinks the crop was banned for the wrong reasons.

Hosted by Kenji Arakawa3 Mins

Episode 6

The floor everybody mistakes for vinyl, made from linseed oil and cork dust in one remaining factory.

Hosted by Kenji Arakawa3 Mins

Episode 5

A foundry that still casts street furniture from patterns carved in the 1880s.

Hosted by Kenji Arakawa4 Mins

Episode 4

A builder on walls made from the soil they stand on, and the one climate where it does not work.

Hosted by Kenji Arakawa3 Mins

The decisions nobody sees, told by the people who made them.

19 Episodes

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Short dispatches recorded live from studio visits and site walks.

10 Episodes

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Studio founders answer the questions younger designers are afraid to ask.

10 Episodes

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