INTERVIEW WITH SIMONE FOR REFLAWN

From Waste to Wonder: Redefining Our Relationship with Materials In a world driven by disposability and shallow innovation, Simone de Waart has spent decades focusing on the essence: materials. As the founder of Material Sense and its experimental offshoot Material Sense Lab, she is at the forefront of a transformation that goes far beyond sustainability. Her mission? To fundamentally shift how we use, value, and understand materials.

Pioneering Texture and Tactility

Simone began her career as a designer but quickly shifted her focus to what lies beneath the surface: materials. Not just how they look, but how they feel, behave, and impact the world. “I care less about the final product and more about the experience of the material itself,” she explains. That philosophy led to the founding of Material Sense, and later Material Sense Lab, a foundation designed to explore circularity and the sustainable of materials through experimentation and collaboration.

The lab is both her playground and battleground. A space where bio-based materials and industrial waste streams are transformed into future-facing innovations. “We don’t want to leave anything behind. Everything we create must return to the cycle. That’s bio-circular.”

Rematerialize: From Resource to Awareness

Simone’s frustration with how recklessly we extract and discard raw materials is the driving force behind her work. As early as 2007, she launched Rematerialize, an exhibition that preceded the popular R-ladder (rethink, reuse, recycle), challenging people to reconsider how we use resources. “We’ve developed amazing new technologies that allow us to do more with less. But we’re barely using them,” she states.

At the heart of her approach is appreciation, not just for finished goods, but for every phase in a material’s lifecycle, from origin to reuse. And she’s not afraid to ask difficult questions: Is “vegan leather” really sustainable? What happens to leather scraps in automotive production? How can we create biocomposites from waste?

Lasting Leather: Challenging the Industry

One of Simone’s most impactful projects is Lasting Leather, where she collaborates with the automotive and furniture sectors to rescue leather waste, scraps and defects, from being incinerated. She transforms this so-called “worthless” material into high-value applications: from upholstered furniture to wall panels and shoes. Sometimes even using bio-plastics derived from wastewater. “We literally create value from what others throw away.”

What sets her approach apart is the systemic view. Simone builds entire value chains around materials, bringing together designers, researchers, manufacturers, and technicians. “You can’t build a supply chain alone. Collaboration is key to turning experiments into viable solutions.”

Design as Dialogue

Her day-to-day work is as layered as her materials. She teaches at TU/e (TU Eindhoven), works hands-on in the lab, and holds strategic conversations with industry players. “I operate on both micro and macro levels, from literally having my hands in the material to zooming out and mapping the bigger picture.”

But every innovation must be explained, often repeatedly. Not just to the industry, but to consumers. “People ask: ‘Has this been tested? Is it durable?’ But they never ask that about conventional products. Nothing is ever 100% sustainable. Sometimes one or two improvements are already meaningful.”

Debunking the Vegan Leather Myth

Simone is outspoken about what she calls the misconception of vegan leather. As vegan is often code for plastic, and difficult to recycle and can be misleading for consumers. “As long as the meat industry exists, there will be hides. We might as well use them well.” She’s equally critical of the leather industry itself, which she finds slow and traditional compared to the fast-moving textile sector. There is much leftover from hides that aren’t being used and even incinerated in the leather industry. For her, real hope lies in transparency and openness. “If we don’t know where materials come from, we can’t use them responsibly.”

A Call for Courage, and Iconic Design

What Simone misses most in the industry? Boldness. “Everyone aims for the middle of the road. But maybe we should be aiming for something iconic. Something that stirs emotion.” She believes that a small, visionary product line can be just as powerful as mass-produced success. “Let it spark a shift in thinking. That has value too.”

The Future Is Tactile

While she’s realistic about the slowness of systemic change, Simone remains hopeful. She finds strength in students who treat sustainability as a given, and in the experimental prototypes that show us what’s possible. “We demonstrate that change is within reach. Sometimes people just need to touch it, feel it, experience it, before they can believe it.”

Interview by Maartje van den Hurk for platform Reflawn (reflawn.com)