5 materials for the future of design

DuPont™ Tyvek® is a unique nonwoven material that has enabled new dimensions of protection, security and safety in a wide variety of industries and applications – building envelope, protective apparel, medical packaging, etc., for 5 decades. And today, Tyvek®, which feels like paper, but it’s not paper; feels like fabric, but it’s not fabric; has distinctive look & feel; is lightweight & flexible, water-resistant, yet breathable, tear-resistant & durable; printable and convertible, 100% Recyclable, has been discovered by the designers and artists as a trendy material for life-style consumer product design.

Totomoxtle is a new veneer material made from Mexican corn shells. Characterised by sensual shades of purple, the laminate tells the story of Central American biodiversity. But this project goes far beyond simple aesthetics. For this design, Fernando Laposse has been working since 2016 with a group of farming families in the state of Puebla and with the support of CIMMYT, the world's largest corn seed bank, he has slowly reintroduced indigenous seeds into the village of Tonahuixtla, re-proposing traditional forms of agriculture. The harvested husks, usually considered waste materials, are now transformed by local women into veneer material, creating new employment. That of the Mexican designer is not just a design project, but a real work of environmental and social activism.

Through the urban cultivation of microalgae, ecoLogicStudio produces oxygen and reduces pollutants in the air. PhotoSyntetica is a research that the London studio has been carrying out for some years now through various experiments, prototypes and installations that transform buildings into real filters for air pollution. Among the various experiments carried out over the years, the architects have developed a curtain that functions as a photobioreactor in which the action of a 2sqm module has the same efficiency as a tall tree. They combine the qualities of EFTE coating - a lightweight, robust, transparent and chemically inert polymeric material - with the ability of algae to capture solar radiation and absorb CO2 ten times more efficiently than trees.

Sustainability is the main feature of UPB made of Resysta® panels, distributed in Italy by Gruppo Bonomi e Pattini, a company specialized in the distribution of innovative and sustainable materials for architecture and furniture. Resysta® is a material composed of about 60% of a waste product from the food industry: rice peels. UPB panels made of Resysta® are 100% recyclable. Despite their innovative composition, the panels retain the tactile and aesthetic feel of real wood and can be easily processed with traditional machines. The mechanical and physical performance of the material is also excellent: it is resistant to water and ultraviolet rays, making it more durable than real wood and easy to wash.

Myceliums have recently become a real trend in the world of design. The material, which forms from the vegetative part of a mushroom, has been used for various experiments in architecture and design: from self-supporting structures to furnishing objects, from building coverings to sustainable packaging. Among the most successful projects is the one born from the collaboration between the designer and craftsman Sebastian Cox and the thinker and design strategist Ninela Ivanova, who created a series of organic furniture combining mycelium and wood. The Mycelium+Timber project includes a series of lamps and stools, made using wood discarded from Sebastian Cox's production, rendered mycelium with the Fomes Fomentarius species. The material manages to bind the different wood scraps into a whole that is extremely light, resistant and completely compostable.

Material: Tyvek®
Company: DuPont
Website: www.dupont.com/tyvekdesign
Instagram: @tyvekdesign
Email: tyvek.design@dupont.com
Download Tyvek® Design Book: www.tyvek.com/designbook

Column sponsored by DuPont. Only Tyvek® out of the 5 materials is from DuPont