Designers are acutely aware of the challenges posed by overconsumption and waste.

Now attention is turning to e-waste and the rare mineral mining needed for electronics and clean energy. Can solutions be found before it’s too late?

Visually, this story looks to the otherworldly beauty of geological and mineral strata, seemingly artificial in both colour and form.

Geological shards inform shape, while materials and techniques encapsulate waste but are formed through heat and pressure, creating something entirely new.

Mine was first published in MIX Magazine issue 70, and the following material, pattern and finish directions are explored in more detail in our 2024/25 CMF Directions.

 

 

Mined Materials

A central theme to this story is expressed in materials that are mined and extracted. Studio Jesper Eriksson transforms Anthracite coal into homeware and furniture in the Coal: Post-Fuel collection 021.

 

 

In Coalstore, Something & Son turn coal into treasured jewellery. In this new context, coal is made desirable beyond its use as fuel.

 

 

Un/Polished

 

 

Mine is a story of contrasting combinations as reflected in finishes. Rugged surfaces meet synthetic smoothness in Flavie Audi’s twisted Hugging Rocks coffee table. 

 

 

Juxtaposition is explored using a single material source; Honjie Yang combines ancient casting techniques with machined technology to create rock-like and artificially reflective surfaces in stainless steel.

 

Striations

 

 

Defective tech and the often-otherworldly beauty of geological strata inform pattern directions. Glitching shards appear on the surface of quarried rock via digital printing in Future Fossil by Katie Hallam.

 

 

In the Flash Set series, Jamie Wolfond casts, carves and spray paints gypsum cement to create striations on the vessels’ surface.

 

 

Work with Material and Colour?

Colour Hive members can access our full forecasts including Signals, CMF Directions, Global Colours, Geographic Focus and Colour Impressions. Part One of our insight for 2025/26 is out now.

Want to know more?

Click below to find out how Colour Hive membership can work for you and download an introduction to Colour Hive membership.

 

Image credits from top: Studio Jesper Eriksson | Coal: Post-Fuel collection 021; Something & Son | Coalstore; Hank Beyer and Alex Sizemore | For the Rest of Us; Hongjie Yang | Synthesis Monolith VI; Flavie Audi | Hugging Rocks coffee table | Scapes at Nilufar Depot | Image courtesy of Nilufar Gallery; Katie Hallam | Future Fossil; Jamie Wolfond | Small Vessel SV17 | Flash Set exhibition for Matter | Photo Sean Davidson; Wendy Andreu | Glitching Lartigue