Mineral: In Conversation

Abbie is a curator and designer working at the intersection of research, ecology, and culture. She is Future Observatory Curator at the Design Museum, where she leads the Design Researchers in Residence programme. She curates exhibitions, residencies, and commissions research that explores sustainable futures through design practice.

Alfred is an architect and writer with a particular interest in the relationship between cultural identity and material extraction. His project investigates the emerging landscape of Cornish lithium mining, exploring the tensions between the UK’s renewable energy ambitions and local communities.

Elise is a writer, researcher and architectural designer with interests in the circular economy and the restoration of contaminated landscapes. Focusing on copper, her project considers the long-term implications of mining infrastructure and what it means for the UK to return to its landscapes of extraction.

Rafael is a designer and artist working at the intersection of material research, traditional craft and contemporary fabrication. In collaboration with glassmaking factories, Rafael’s research reframes silica slag as a new raw material for design – challenging industry aesthetics and redefining waste streams as resources for regenerative futures.

Rosa is a designer, writer and researcher whose work spans food systems, critical ecology and atmospheric politics. Her project explores the future of the UK’s chalk aquifers, addressing urgent questions around water scarcity, resource management and climate adaptation.

In this free display, explore the research work of this year's Design Researchers in Residence – responding to the theme of ‘mineral’, interrogating the UK's intersecting mineral landscapes.

Free to visit following the museum's opening hours, no booking required.

Future Observatory is the Design Museum’s national research programme for the green transition, based at the museum and coordinated in partnership with UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Future Observatory curates exhibitions, programmes events and funds and publishes new research, all with the aim of championing new design thinking on environmental issues.

UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funds internationally outstanding independent researchers across the whole range of the arts and humanities: history, archaeology, digital content, philosophy, languages and literature, design, heritage, area studies, the creative and performing arts, and much more. The quality and range of research supported by AHRC works for the good of UK society and culture and contributes both to UK economic success and to the culture and welfare of societies across the globe.