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Three Japanese words that describe sustainable design better than ‘sustainability’
Three Japanese aesthetic concepts – wabi-sabi, shibui and ma – offer a different perspective on “sustainability.”
VIDEO: Could a rise in mass timber and CLT cause deforestation? New research says yes
A 2025 paper in Nature Communications makes the strongest quantified case yet for building with mass timber at scale. But it also highlights the potential for deforestation.
Built from the ground it stands on: Lot 8 in Arles, France
The renovation of a former nineteenth-century electrical depot draws its materials, almost entirely, from the few kilometres of southern France around it.
Interior Design
Integrating Sustainable Materials in Interior Design
Designers have a wealth of options at their disposal when it comes to incorporating sustainable materials into their projects. Understand the benefits and read tips for making sustainable material choices.
These lights couple offcuts with bacterial cellulose for an ethereal beauty
Designed by Ferma Studio and ReCraft Design Studio – these light pair a reclaimed concrete core sample with a lampshade of bacterial cellulose, grown through kombucha fermentation until it turns soft and semi-translucent.
Compression and Release: James Walsh’s Anthropic Bench
Emerging industrial designer James Walsh has won the 2020 Australian Furniture Design Award (AFDA) presented by Stylecraft and the National Gallery of Victoria with a design that uses traditional techniques, reinvented in a modern form.
The ground-breaking work of Ty Syml
Welsh-based experimental design studio Tŷ Syml is proving what’s possible through material research and product design. Borne from a university thesis, the trio behind the studio are creating a new generation of products that are embedded with a cradle-to-cradle philosophy. And only a few years off the ground, the studio is now consulting with cities on how to be more sustainable. Here they share their design thinking and why an experimental approach is key.
Traceability is the key to unlocking true circular design
Traceability is at the heart of the circular design. You can’t keep materials in play if you don’t know exactly what they are, where they came from, or how they behave over time.
What Australia’s mandatory climate reporting means for design
And why architects and makers should start paying attention.
Smarter defitting: Understanding why better deconstruction can help close the loop
In commercial interiors, the focus, understandably, is on the beginning. The crisp fit-out, the promise of a new space, the energy of a fresh start. But it’s the end of the lease – when the space is returned that holds untapped potential. The defit stage, while often overlooked, is where the real environmental gains can happen.
Delve into the Archive
Built from the ground it stands on: Lot 8 in Arles, France
The renovation of a former nineteenth-century electrical depot draws its materials, almost entirely, from the few kilometres of southern France around it.
From hempcrete to biodiversity: Regenerative design in focus
At HIP V. HYPE’s ParkLife2 building, About Futures and B Local Melbourne hosted a relaxed but pointed conversation about regenerative design – covering nature-positive decisions, material selection, social connection and how stories can help shape how we build.
Join us in Melbourne for The Future of Design is Regenerative event
From carbon-positive buildings to biodiversity-led business models, the most compelling work in the built environment is no longer satisfied with ticking green boxes. The Future of Design is Regenerative is an event inviting the Melbourne’s design community into a candid conversation – hosted at HIP V. HYPE’s Better Building Exchange – this B Local Melbourne event will dive into what it really takes to design places that give back more than they take.
NGV’s new exhibition Making Good: Redesigning the Everyday puts bio-materials in the spotlight
From mushroom leather handbags to seaweed straws and air-purifying paint, the National Gallery of Victoria’s new exhibition is a love letter to the ingenuity of designers reimagining the materials of daily life.
10 exhibitions about bio-materials and waste to see at Melbourne Design Week 2025
Melbourne Design Week is now in its ninth year, continuing to grow in scale and ambition. I was lucky enough to attend the inaugural event as editor of Australian Design Review — and it’s remarkable to see the shift since then. This year, a surge of shows explores bio-materiality, waste and reuse with new urgency. Here are 10 exhibitions worth adding to your list.
Big Glow by Studio Truly Truly redefines lighting with a bio-composite wool
Studio Truly Truly’s latest lighting design for Rakumba, Big Glow is a bold material experiment fusing innovation and sustainability.
About Futures is an independent magazine documenting the homes, ideas and conversations shaping a new era of sustainable design.
The most exciting architecture being built right now is sustainable. About Futures covers the groundbreaking materials, the alternative building processes, and the people reimagining what home can look like when it’s designed for the future.
