Jessie French /
Other Matter
Material innovation artist-researcher
Jessie French is an artist and material researcher and the founding director of Other Matter, a studio developing regenerative material systems for architecture, retail and exhibition environments. Her practice investigates the environmental consequences of petrochemical plastics and develops non-petrochemical alternatives through material experimentation. Working across art, design and scientific collaboration, through Other Matter, French has developed a series of material systems including architectural surfaces, interchangeable films and sheet materials produced from recovered studio waste. The work is being scaled in collaboration with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Her projects have received international recognition, including Dezeen Awards, Frame Awards, Design Anthology Awards, the Good Design Awards and the INDE Awards. In 2024 she was the inaugural Designer-in-Residence at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum..
Photography by Phillip HuynhCollaborators and Material Voices :
Other Matter presents the first furniture pieces produced by the studio and using its patented material system, originally developed for architectural surfaces. The system received Dezeen’s 2025 Surface Design of the Year award. The seating pieces incorporate a dense, leather-like surface created through Other Matter’s closed-loop recycling process, where offcuts and returned signage are reprocessed into a durable leather-like material. Developed in collaboration with Made by Morgen, the pieces demonstrate how circular, non-petrochemical material systems can extend into furniture design.