MEDL x SDW

The Material Ecologies Design Lab (MEDL) x Sydney Design Week kitchen will host designers cooking up a range of sustainable, renewable and bio-based materials on site, provoking conversations about material futures, circularity and the culpability of design. It will showcase designers working with recycled glass, algae, cellulose, mycelium and brewer’s spent grain, and their creative approaches to challenging unsustainable production chains using new technologies.

Dr Stefan Lie is a product designer and co-director of the UTS Material Ecologies Design Lab, working at the intersection of product interaction, material ecologies and sustainable design. His research emphasises the relationship between humans and materials based on an object’s form, surface and texture and its resulting contribution to cultures of overconsumption and waste. He has a particular interest in the use of next-generation bio-derived polymers as an alternative to petrochemicals.

Nahum McLean is a designer, maker and PhD candidate with the UTS Material Ecologies Design Lab. McLean has worked for some of Australia’s leading fashion houses as a drape-based designer and patternmaker. His research is responding to climate breakdown and developing novel biobased and biodegradable materials for applications across fashion, design and architecture.

Saul Mazabow is a designer and PhD candidate who is researching and developing sustainable rapid prototyping processes for use in product design. His research involves the development of novel material composite pastes for 3D printing, derived from locally sourced organic waste.

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 critical systems of production 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.

Ella Williams is a product designer and PhD candidate with the UTS Material Ecologies Lab, working at the intersection of sustainable materials and digital technologies. Her research aims to find ways of using bio-based and waste materials through 3D printing and computational design methods. Her current research looks at 3D printing of building components with a recycled glass powder.