Seetal Solanki
2025 Talk
Seetal Solanki is a Materials Translator who resides in London and is of Indian, East African and Persian descent. The Founder and Director of Ma-tt-er, a practice focused on providing access to materials through researching, learning, advising and curating.
She’s worked in some of the world’s top fashion houses, brands, corporations, architecture practices, design schools and institutions since 2004. Namely working under Lee Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Nike Air Jordan, Potato Head Bali and Molonglo Group where materials were applied into live projects with cultural integrity and technological advancements.
In 2018 she authored the bestselling book Why Materials Matter: Responsible Design For A Better World which has been widely recognised internationally.
Her joy for sharing knowledge has led her to teach at Central Saint Martins, Royal College of Art, Design Academy Eindhoven, Architectural Association to name a few. This extended into a less formal education space where she helped build a plastic recycling workshop in Lagos, Nigeria. Plan-b was co-designed with the local community of Lagos Island to provide a space which was catering to be self-enterprising making repurposed plastic tableware which was paired with their home brewed ferments at events.
In addition she is currently authoring another book which is framed on a Material Atlas due to be published by Prestel which will delve into the migration of materials across lands, through people, place and process.
She is striving to build more regenerative systems with a materials first approach to support us in the journey to discover what we’re made of.
Seetal's Talk
Uprooted
Seetal Solanki of Ma-tt-er will be speaking towards material migration and how materials have travelled along with people across lands. Constantly being uprooted and rerooted throughout. Seetal wants the audience to consider materials as citizens and respect them as such. She will be sharing 'Uprooted', a recent exhibition she curated with Jorge Penadés for Madrid Design Week 2025 to demonstrate how this research has been brought to life and have these worlds be made possible.
