After a hugely successful inaugural edition, Material Matters returns in 2023. Based on the critically acclaimed podcast of the same name, the fair brings together over 40 world-leading brands, designers, makers, manufacturers and organizations to celebrate the importance of materials and their ability to shape lives.

Taking place once again at the iconic Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf on London’s Southbank, the fair includes five floors of products, site-specific installations, a marketplace, a learning area and an extensive talks programme, providing a new platform for engagement, collaboration and inspiration for the design and architecture industries. Material Matters 2023 investigates how the design industry can address issues around the circular economy and why material intelligence is so important to all our lives.

So why materials? Well as writers such as Glenn Adamson and Professor Mark Miodownik have pointed out, if we understand materials, then we understand how the world works. And if we understand how the world works, then we have a better chance of averting the climate emergency the planet is currently hurtling towards.