2025 - ongoing
Why this question?
The investigation began with an existing relationship.
The neighbouring Sylvamo paper mill in Nymölla provides surplus heating for Ifö Center in Bromölla, supporting the cultural activities of the former ceramic insulator factory. This quiet act of environmental cooperation suggested a broader question: could making itself become another form of exchange between the two places?
Rather than viewing industry and culture as separate worlds, the investigation explores how local materials can strengthen relationships between neighbouring industries, cultural institutions and communities.
Environmental sustainability is not only about reducing environmental impact. It is also about recognising, extending and caring for the relationships that already exist within a place.
Partners
Ifö Center
Sylvamo Nymölla Paper Mill
Culture Moves Europe
Location
Bromölla & Nymölla, Sweden
The material becomes
a local resource
a connector between industries
a carrier of environmental knowledge
a catalyst for cultural exchange
a teaching tool
a foundation for sustainable making
INVESTIGATION
Local Material Practice investigates how material practice can contribute to a new culture of making rooted in local environmental relationships.
Working between Sylvamo and Ifö Center, the investigation combines locally available paper fibres, industrial porcelain leftovers form the Iföverken, and other regional silicate resources to develop new ceramic materials that respond to their place of origin. These recipes are not the destination of the project but evidence of a broader inquiry into how making can reinforce environmental responsibility, local identity and cultural collaboration.
Rather than beginning with globally sourced "ideal" materials, the investigation begins by understanding what is already present.
It asks how designers and makers can learn to cook from what we have - adapting their practice to local resources instead of adapting places to imported material standards.
The project therefore shifts sustainability from a technical question towards a cultural one.
Local Material Development
The investigation develops ceramic recipes by combining locally available industrial porcelain with paper fibres from the neighbouring paper mill and other regional silicate resources.
Each recipe explores the specific qualities of materials that already belong to the local landscape and industrial context, demonstrating that innovation can emerge from working with what is present rather than searching elsewhere.
The recipes form the material foundation for future artistic, architectural and educational applications.
Workshops - Building Material Awareness
The workshops invite ceramic artists, designers and makers to explore a different relationship with materials. Rather than promoting a single recipe or technique, the investigation encourages participants to begin with the resources already available within their own regions.
The aim is not simply to teach a new material. It is to cultivate a different culture of making.
Strengthening Material Relationships
The investigation extends the existing environmental relationship between Sylvamo and Ifö Center into the field of material practice.
Paper fibres, industrial porcelain, makers, cultural institutions and local industries become part of the same material ecosystem. Through making, an existing partnership becomes visible and tangible, demonstrating how local collaborations can generate new cultural and environmental value.
Rather than importing materials and knowledge from elsewhere, the project proposes that sustainable innovation can emerge by strengthening the relationships that already exist within a region.
