This Autumn we released another exciting series of the Material Matters with Grant Gibson podcast. This featured Neil Thomas, Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert and Simone Brewster.

In the first episode Neil Thomas chats about: the role of a structural engineer; his ability to talk a number of design languages; the genesis of his obsession with bamboo and its extraordinary properties; overcoming bamboo’s image problem; the importance of David Bowie to his life; and, er, having a pony tail in his youth.

In the next episode Jeremy Maxwell wintrebert discusses: having conversations with hot glass and looking for the secrets of the universe; the importance of teamwork to the production of his pieces; the physicality involved in making; glass’ relationship with the worlds of art and design; how hot glass ‘grabbed’ his soul; a car accident that changed his life and his desire to break the barriers between disciplines.

In this festive episode with Simone Brewster, supported by  by the American Hardwood Export Council Europe we talk about:  her brilliant year; how The Shape of Things informed her practice; creating ‘intimate architecture’ with furniture and jewellery; the thinking behind her best-known pieces, The Negress and The Mammy; working with cork; not fitting in… until now and her plans for 2024.