Discarded matter, given the weight of marble.

“Last year, Project Materia explored the weight of history through bronze, marble and glass. This year, during 3 Days of Design, the conversation shifted to a material that carries no history at all.”

Matek did not come from the earth. It was pressed into existence from coffee shells, sawdust and recycled plastic. Yet it possesses a density and honesty that demands a seat at the same table as heritage materials. To prove this, we invited nine international artists to Copenhagen for 3 Days of Design - and the conversation now continues in Paris and London this September.

In an industry often obsessed with heritage, the 2026 edition asks what happens when we treat discarded resources with the same gravity we once reserved for marble.

“Project Materia is about creating a meeting point between industry, material innovation, and artistic practice.”

With this year's exhibition, we wanted to invite designers and artists to engage with Matek not simply as a sustainable material, but as a creative medium with its own aesthetic and structural possibilities. By bringing together practitioners with very different approaches and disciplines, the exhibition reveals the remarkable diversity of expression that can emerge from a single material framework.

The collaboration with Mater and Matek reflects a shared ambition to push circular materials into new cultural and spatial contexts.