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Other Matter

@other_matter

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Patented material innovation studio @omsignagefilm for exhibitions, retail and events.
MarbleWood, patterned surfaces and sheets by @frenchjessie

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Jessie French’s exhibition, Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces, examines the industrial systems embedded within the materials that shape our inhabited spaces and their resultant environmental and ethical consequences.

Established systems, optimised for efficiency, low cost, and standardisation, dictate how physical resources are produced, circulated, and utilised in our daily environments. Many of these materials rely on chemical additives including binders, stabilisers and coatings to enable their rapid manufacturing. While engineered for efficiency and durability, these materials are often impossible to repair or reintegrate into recycling or reuse cycles once they degrade. Over time, these industrial systems have normalised the widespread use of materials that compromise human health and ecological stability.

In an era defined by environmental crisis and geopolitical tension over natural resources, French positions material design as a critical cultural and environmental inquiry. By presenting functional materials as cultural artifacts, Material Conditions invites us to look beyond the surface and consider the infrastructures, responsibilities, and possibilities embedded within the substances that surround us.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

Curated by Micky Schubert

@frenchjessie @other_matter @creative.australia

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Final Week | Closing 18 Oct 2026

Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces
Jessie French

Jessie French’s exhibition, Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces, examines the industrial systems embedded within the materials that shape our inhabited spaces and their resultant environmental and ethical consequences.

Established systems, optimised for efficiency, low cost, and standardisation, dictate how physical resources are produced, circulated, and utilised in our daily environments. Many of these materials rely on chemical additives including binders, stabilisers and coatings to enable their rapid manufacturing. While engineered for efficiency and durability, these materials are often impossible to repair or reintegrate into recycling or reuse cycles once they degrade. Over time, these industrial systems have normalised the widespread use of materials that compromise human health and ecological stability.

In an era defined by environmental crisis and geopolitical tension over natural resources, French positions material design as a critical cultural and environmental inquiry. By presenting functional materials as cultural artifacts, Material Conditions invites us to look beyond the surface and consider the infrastructures, responsibilities, and possibilities embedded within the substances that surround us.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

Curated by Micky Schubert

@frenchjessie @other_matter @creative.australia @visitgreatoceanroad

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We are pleased to announce Jessie French, Founding Director of Other Matter, as the recipient of the inaugural Think Good Micro-Grant.

Jessie is a Naarm/Melbourne artist and designer whose practice develops algae-derived alternatives to petrochemical-based materials. Her project focuses on MarbleWood, a marbled surface made from an algae-based polymer and hand-poured onto timber. It’s being developed for interior architecture as a way to produce a marbled finish without quarrying stone.

The grant will be used for MarbleWood to undergo accredited testing, including surface hardness, abrasion resistance, moisture stability and UV stability. These test results will give architects and designers the performance data needed to specify MarbleWood in commercial interiors.

Thank you to our jury, Karen Elton, Katherine Featherstone of the Green Building Council of Australia and Eva-Marie Prineas of Studio Prineas, and to everyone who shared their ideas with us this year.

We look forward to following MarbleWood through testing and into the built environment.

@other_matter @frenchjessie

#EltonGroup

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Introducing Itera.

@iterabakery is the first solo venture from former Sunda pastry chef Felix Goodwin and his partner Elena Nguyen, building on the pair’s experience behind Melbourne CBD favourite Kudo. Conceived as a neighbourhood bakery, pantry and café, Itera places craft and hospitality at the centre of the experience, making the process of baking as visible and engaging as the finished product.

The design takes its cue from the geometry of the corner site, Introducing a series of interconnected cylindrical forms that organise the interior into three distinct zones: bakery, pantry and dining. Offset from the existing walls, the cylinders read as architectural insertions within the existing fabric, creating a deliberate dialogue between old and new.

Head to Itera for your next GF baked good and cuppa.

Photography @blachford
Decal @other_matter
Lighting @electrolight__

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Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces
Jessie French
11 Jul 2026 - 18 Oct 2026

Jessie French’s exhibition, Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces, examines the industrial systems embedded within the materials that shape our inhabited spaces and their resultant environmental and ethical consequences.

Established systems, optimised for efficiency, low cost, and standardisation, dictate how physical resources are produced, circulated, and utilised in our daily environments. Many of these materials rely on chemical additives including binders, stabilisers and coatings to enable their rapid manufacturing. While engineered for efficiency and durability, these materials are often impossible to repair or reintegrate into recycling or reuse cycles once they degrade. Over time, these industrial systems have normalised the widespread use of materials that compromise human health and ecological stability.

In an era defined by environmental crisis and geopolitical tension over natural resources, French positions material design as a critical cultural and environmental inquiry. By presenting functional materials as cultural artifacts, Material Conditions invites us to look beyond the surface and consider the infrastructures, responsibilities, and possibilities embedded within the substances that surround us.

Curated by Micky Schubert.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

@creative_vic @frenchjessie @creative.australia @visitgreatoceanroad @other_matter

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Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces
Jessie French
11 Jul 2026 - 18 Oct 2026

Jessie French’s exhibition, Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces, examines the industrial systems embedded within the materials that shape our inhabited spaces and their resultant environmental and ethical consequences.

Established systems, optimised for efficiency, low cost, and standardisation, dictate how physical resources are produced, circulated, and utilised in our daily environments. Many of these materials rely on chemical additives including binders, stabilisers and coatings to enable their rapid manufacturing. While engineered for efficiency and durability, these materials are often impossible to repair or reintegrate into recycling or reuse cycles once they degrade. Over time, these industrial systems have normalised the widespread use of materials that compromise human health and ecological stability.

In an era defined by environmental crisis and geopolitical tension over natural resources, French positions material design as a critical cultural and environmental inquiry. By presenting functional materials as cultural artifacts, Material Conditions invites us to look beyond the surface and consider the infrastructures, responsibilities, and possibilities embedded within the substances that surround us.

Curated by Micky Schubert.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

@creative_vic @frenchjessie @creative.australia @visitgreatoceanroad @other_matter

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To the women building. We see you. On your good days and bad. We can't wait to see you thrive. 🖤

Seeing us through the lens @photography_by_matteo.

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Can we chat for a minute about Growth?

Sometimes it's more staff and more revenue and a bigger office.

For most of us, it's dropping the client who drains you. Charging what you're worth for the first time. Saying no to the work that pays but doesn't fit. Deciding to stay small on purpose because small is working.

We've been sold one version of what building a business looks like, and feeling like we aren't achieving because we aren't posting enough, seeing the financials early on, having the business trips, shiny office, etc. Burnout in early stage business is real, and while I'm not saying you shouldn't work hard and there WILL be bad days, give yourself some grace and see the growth you've made.

Maybe you're simply up and running in a male dominated industry, maybe you're working on your business and still (just) making it for school pick up, maybe you're finally in the room with investors and being heard. THIS is growth. This is success.

From Foundher to you, you're doing great sweetie. 🖤

📸 @photography_by_matteo
Treating us like queens @damn.gina.au and @rhyainmind

Next networking night is November 4th, dinner is December 2nd - links coming soon.

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From oyster shells to eggshells, Australia designers are using naturally derived materials to create striking furniture and homewares. In our special Innovation Issue, Virginia Jen spotlights three extraordinary pieces made with discarded, disregarded or newly invented materials. All speak to the beauty and ingenuity of sustainable design.

Read more at the link in bio.

This story is part of Broadsheet’s special Innovation Issue, presented by @mercedesbenzau. Edited by @tomastelegramma.

📸 @hamishmcintosh / @afloralfrenzy / @joanneodisho

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From oyster shells to eggshells, Australia designers are using naturally derived materials to create striking furniture and homewares. In our special Innovation Issue, Virginia Jen spotlights three extraordinary pieces made with discarded, disregarded or newly invented materials. All speak to the beauty and ingenuity of sustainable design.

Read more at the link in bio.

This story is part of Broadsheet’s special Innovation Issue, presented by @mercedesbenzau. Edited by @tomastelegramma.

📸 @hamishmcintosh / @afloralfrenzy / @joanneodisho

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Jessie French is challenging petrochemical plastics with Other Matter® Signage Film and Leather. Jessie is an artist, designer and material researcher.

She uses algae-derived polymers and locally sourced mineral pigments to develop @other_matter ’s Signage Film. This material is a non-toxic, petrochemical-free bioplastic designed as an alternative to conventional PVC signage.

Here’s the problem: PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is a synthetic plastic widely used in signage. Most PVC contains phthalates — which are plasticizers associated with serious health and environmental concerns. At the end of their life, conventional signage film is commonly landfilled or incinerated, which releases hazardous substances and greenhouse gas emissions.

OM Signage Film offers a more sustainable alternative. Yet, like any signage film, it is still ultimately a temporary material, designed to be discarded after an exhibition or retail campaign. From the earliest stages, Jessie French is striving to address this disposability.Every offcut and returned roll is transformed into a leather-like material suitable for upholstery. The result is a closed-loop system that gives the material a second life.

This approach turns signage waste into a new, higher-value application. And this is where material innovation meets economic viability. “Most recycling doesn’t fail on chemistry,” says French, “it fails on economics.” By upcycling the offcuts into upholstery-grade leather, Other Matter® creates a material valuable enough to justify the cost of recovery.

Jessie French is now working with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, to explore industrial-scale production, with the ambition to replace conventional vinyl signage altogether.

We can’t wait to hear more!

#mebltransformingfurniture
#sustainablefurniture
#circulardesign #circulareconomy

@omsignagefilm

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Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces
Jessie French
11 Jul 2026 - 18 Oct 2026

Jessie French’s exhibition, Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces, examines the industrial systems embedded within the materials that shape our inhabited spaces and their resultant environmental and ethical consequences.

Established systems, optimised for efficiency, low cost, and standardisation, dictate how physical resources are produced, circulated, and utilised in our daily environments. Many of these materials rely on chemical additives including binders, stabilisers and coatings to enable their rapid manufacturing. While engineered for efficiency and durability, these materials are often impossible to repair or reintegrate into recycling or reuse cycles once they degrade. Over time, these industrial systems have normalised the widespread use of materials that compromise human health and ecological stability.

In an era defined by environmental crisis and geopolitical tension over natural resources, French positions material design as a critical cultural and environmental inquiry. By presenting functional materials as cultural artifacts, Material Conditions invites us to look beyond the surface and consider the infrastructures, responsibilities, and possibilities embedded within the substances that surround us.

Curated by Micky Schubert.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

@frenchjessie @creative.australia @creative_vic @visitgreatoceanroad @other_matter

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