Returning to Matter

What happens when we stop seeing waste as the end of a process and begin to see it as the beginning of another?

NAIFACTORY LAB (Naif Lab) organizes “Returning to Matter” with support from FabCafe Kyoto. The exhibition presents a selection of experimental works the lab developed through years of research into organic waste and bio-based materials. While exploing how discarded matter can be turned into new forms, textures, and objects, the exhibition questions theconventional boundaries between waste, material, design and nature.

At the heart of the exhibition is Reolivar, a biomaterial developed in Barcelona from olive pits. Through experimentation, this material has been combined with other organic residues such ascoffee grounds, tea leaves, orange peels, charcoal and plant matter with each bringing its own colour, texture and character to the material.

Rather than presenting a finished solution, the exhibition reveals a process of continuous exploration. The works are traces of experiments, questions and discoveries: small objects, vessels, sculptures and material studies that invite us to look again at what we normally leave behind.

From Barcelona to Kyoto, Returning to Matter proposes a dialogue between contemporary material research and a culture with a long tradition of working with matter, transformation and craftsmanship. It is an invitation to reconsider our relationship with the materials that surround us and to imagine what they might become next.

What’s on view

Building these pieces over the last several years, Naif Lab has been researching bio-based materials. While most of the pieces use Reolivar, a material Naif Lab developed from recovered olive pits and natural binders. The team also incorporates coffee grounds, tea leaves, charcoal, orange peels and other organic residues into it to explore the material’s visual, tactile and structural qualities.