Material Matters

Andrew Simpson is the founder and director of Sydney-based design house Vert and has designed a huge range of products over its ten years of operation, from the intimately hand-crafted through to mass-produced industrial products. Constantly searching for meaning and value in design, Andrew’s approach considers the human connection, while his experimental work in the studio has led to several innovations including the development of sustainable materials made from waste such as the iconic HuskeeCup. Since 2010, he has been director of Best Practice Plastics, specialists in injection molding of sustainable materials and working with clients like Unilever, Nestle, Mecca, Sydney Water and more. Simpson’s work has been exhibited in Australia, Europe, North America and Asia. He mentors emerging designers and lecturers and teaches at numerous Australian educational institutions, as well as providing public lectures, judging of national and international design awards and board advisory.

Dr Kate Scardifield is an artist and co-director of the UTS Material Ecologies Design Lab. Her research charts materials through states of transformation, emphasising the importance of transitioning production systems away from petrochemicals and towards more sustainable material futures. Scardifield leads interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects that bring together material culture studies and materials science, connecting science with creative practice and driving innovation through expanded forms of design. Key research projects include designing with algae-based biopolymers as alternatives to plastics, and the development of biomaterials to provide carbon capture and storage solutions in the built environment.

Professor Veena Sahajwalla is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer and inventor revolutionising recycling science. She is renowned for pioneering the high temperature transformation of waste in the production of a new generation of ‘green materials’ at the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre, where she is founding director. Professor Sahajwalla is the inventor of polymer injection technology, known as green steel, an eco-friendly process for using recycled tyres in steel production. In 2018, Professor Sahajwalla launched the world's first e-waste MICROfactorieTM and in 2019 she launched her plastics and Green Ceramics MICROfactories, a recycling technology breakthrough. She is the director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for microrecycling and is the leader of the national Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub. In 2021, she featured in the ABC’s Australian Story and was named the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year.

Dr Alice Payne is a Professor and Dean of the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT. Her research focuses on environmental and social sustainability issues throughout the life cycle of clothing. Recent work has examined labour issues in the cotton value chain, as well as technologies to address the problem of textile waste. Alice is part of the Australian Fashion Council-led consortium designing the National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme. She is author of the book Designing Fashion's Future, co-editor of Global Perspectives on Sustainable Fashion, and is an award-winning designer and educator.