Skip to main content

Materials First

background

 

Touch, Layer, Discover 

In 2026, materials expert Chris Lefteri returns with a new edition of the Materials First interactive installation. Centered on the essence of materials and the idea of re-creation, this experiential space invites visitors to actively engage with materials—discovering how they respond through layering, contrast, and transformation. The installation seeks to reveal the value of materials in design and inspire fresh ways of thinking about surfaces, textures, and finishes.

Moving away from traditional static displays, this feature embraces dynamic interaction. Through intuitive, hands-on exploration, visitors are guided to uncover the innovative potential of CMF design.

Across three curated interactive themes—Digital Speckles, Colour Distortion, and Pattern Twist—visitors can freely layer translucent films, reflective sheets, colour filters, patterned mesh, or light-responsive materials over a variety of textured bases. As visual and tactile perceptions shift with each combination, visitors will find themselves immersed in the boundless possibilities of CMF.

 

2025 Materials Highlights Review

Touching Stories

  • Latex Insole
  • PORON® Performance
  • FAVINI Refit
  • Roctool Soft Surface
  • Sublidot®
  • Softell™
  • Flocking
  • 3D Printing on Textile
  • 3D Knitting
  • Gmund Cotton
  • Lightmotif
  • Woola
  • Celmure™
  • Alcantara®
  • ML Engraving
  • Ultradur®
  • Eschmann Texture
  • Kvadrat Really Acoustic Textile
  • ORAC Décor
  • Hanji
  • Hanji Leather
  • Arfinio®
  • Technogel®
  • Speckled Plastic 
  • Mutina Folded
  • Velvet Touch TPE
  • ColorBo

Dystopian Stories

  • Accoya Pre-Treated Long-Life Wood
  • Deco-Deco
  • ColorBo
  • Viroc® Cement Wood Board
  • Lightweigtht Cement
  • NIR-detectable Black
  • CIRCAL Recycled AL
  • REDUXA Low Carbon AL
  • Sea Stone
  • K-BRIQ
  • Stone Cycling Waste Based Bricks® 
  • Sublidot®
  • Symbio PLA25 Biocomposite
  • Buxkin Recycled Italian Shoes
  • Alkemi Acrylic
  • Micro Texture
  • Stone-Veneer®
  • PaperFoam®
  • Kvadrat Really Recycled Textile
  • Seaweed Paper
  • Powdura ECO
  • imi-beton
  • De Castelli
  • Ecorub
  • Glass Fibre Nylon
  • Charcoal Grecipe Stone like plastic
  • FIELITZ GmbH
  • Marbled Plastics
  • Korkstone
  • richlite
  • ALPIlignum
  • Newspaperwood
  • Based Upon
  • Crystal titanium
  • Mirrors in Time
  • 3D Textures on Metal

Tales from the Woods

  • Barktex® Fabric from Trees
  • Mogu
  • Karuun® Shine 
  • Cross Laminated Surfaces
  • Raw materials 1 - Lavender
  • Raw materials 2 - Corn
  • Raw materials 3 - Wheat
  • ORGANOID® 
  • Gmund Mother Earth
  • Celoore™
  • Deco-Deco
  • Parallam®
  • Baux Pulp
  • Puretree Cork Fabric
  • Lifocork Cork Composite Resin
  • NaturePlast
  • METIS Seagrass
  • Primecork
  • Pénapalne
  • Wellboard
  • Wastea
  • Seagrass Carpet
  • Zelfo Engineered Natural Fibre

Digital Dream

  • Holographic Sheet
  • Colour Change Film
  • 3D Printed Surface
  • Polycoater
  • Starlight Beads
  • Inflated Metal
  • Metal Anodising Finishes
  • BASF - Elastollan
  • Creon Metal Surfaces
  • Lenticular Film
  • Ombrae
  • Micro Texture
  • Gabriel Chemie - Metallic Gloss
  • Knoll Frozen Fabric 
  • Self-locking 3D Printed PLA
  • Roctool Holographic Effects
  • PVD Finishes
  • Fire Edge Acrylic
  • Marbled Effects
  • Crystal Titanium
  • Sensitile - SLANT®
  • KARLITE
  • Gabriel Chemie - Laser Marking
  • Makrolon®
  • LightBlocks®
  • Deco-Deco
  • KURZ
  • Makrolon RE Recycled PC from Cooking Oil
  • Tritan®  Tenite 
  • Chemically Recycled Co-Polyester
  • Cast Acrylic
  • Deco-Deco

Guilt-Free Stories

  • SÜDPACK Compound
  • Desmopan®
  • Grecipe Bio Plastic
  • Oceanic Ocean Waste Fabric
  • SUSTONABLE
  • LNP™ ELCRIN™ 
  • Wastea Suede
  • Lifocolor BIO-C
  • YiBrick
  • FixIts
  • Omnix® ReCycle
  • BAUX Acoustic Wood Wool
  • Bencore WasBottle
  • Laedana Faux Leather
  • Flek Recycled copolyester Sheet
  • Mycel
  • Uncaged
  • C Coating
  • PA11 Arkema Rilsan
  • BAUX Recycled Acoustic PET
  • PaperFoam®
  • Waste Yarn Recycled Decorative Panel
  • PEELSPHERE®

Sci-Fi Sci-Fact

  • Petit Pli Textile
  • Fabric Manipulation
  • PARX Anti-Bacterial Additives 
  • Recycled Carbon Fibre
  • White EL
  • Thermochromic Pigments
  • Conductive Thread
  • Conductive Ink
  • Kaynemaile
  • Flexible Solar Panel
  • Keronite Advanced Surface
  • Reversacol™
  • Vectran™ LCP fiber
  • NFC Printed onto Fabric
  • Power Mesh Knit Tape
  • Sharklet
  • LayStitchTM
  • 3D Printing
  • GoodCatch
  • 3D Printing on Textile
  • Graphene Plus Coating
  • Triaxial Fabric
  • Shape memory alloy
  • Self-locking 3D Printing
  • Reflective Fabric
  • Ferrofluid

2024 Highlights Review