Launched as part of Islington’s Together Greener Festival, Why Hemp Matters explored the remarkable potential of this highly carbon-sequestering plant as a renewable resource for the building and creative industries seeking to reduce their environmental impact.

Featuring material samples, prototypes and products by Margent Farm, the exhibition examined how this ancient crop could support applications across different industries - from construction and interiors to cosmetics, while contributing to healthier, lower-impact environments.

Through materials, objects and cross-industry applications, Why Hemp Matters invited visitors to reconsider the resources from which our buildings, interiors and everyday objects are made.

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HOST took part in Repair & Reuse, a series of community showcases organised by the North London Waste Authority and Groundwork across North London’s seven boroughs. HOST presented a diverse collection of homeware demonstrating different approaches to upcycling across multiple waste streams, including textiles, glass, scrap metal, construction waste, biowaste and paper.

Designed to engage a broad and diverse audience, each event responded to its local community while demonstrating how extending the life and value of existing resources can become part of everyday life.

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HOST’s mycelium lights were selected for an immersive exhibition by IDEO imagining the future home, where waste no longer exists. Presented as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s annual summit, Redesigning the Future, the exhibition brought circular thinking to life through materials, objects and ideas demonstrating alternative ways of designing and making.

The exhibition was experienced by more than 1,000 attendees, bringing together leaders from industry, innovation and academia to explore what a circular future could look like in practice.

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The exhibition explores the Symbiocene – a proposed next era in human history characterised by the reintegration of humans and nature. Yet such a future is far from inevitable. With the built environment responsible for nearly half of global carbon emissions, transitioning towards a more symbiotic relationship with nature requires deliberate action and a fundamental reconsideration of how we design and build.

SumBioTecture places collaboration, rather than command, at the heart of this approach, exploring how artists, architects and designers can play an important role in reconnecting the natural and built environments.

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