Materials, ideas and processes are at the centre of every human endeavor; Matter is a new research studio and consultancy founded to explore the relationship between them.
Matter is an online resource dedicated to shedding light on the often-hidden processes that drive the creative industry. The launch event, ‘Living in a Material World’ was a five-day exhibition exploring the relationship between materials, creativity and the sensory world, with each day playing host to a series of events themed around one of the five senses.
Founded by artist and designer Seetal Solanki, Matter seeks to explore and celebrate the materials behind human experience, improve the common understanding of the creative process, and share the resultant insights with the world at large. Through a combination of research, exhibitions, talks and collaborations, Matter will drive increased awareness and changed perceptions of the role materials play – not simply tangible substances, such as paper, fabrics, plastics and metal, but also conceptual and non-corporeal materials, including time, email, light, gravity and code.
The world around us is a construction of ideas made permanent through the application of materials and processes, but in the creative industries, acknowledgement and value tend to be attached to the originator of the idea, overlooking the people and processes required to bring it into being. Matter exists to explore the space between an idea and its realisation, and to consider the skills, materials, systems and individual contributions that go into the act of creation.