VISION
Our roots and our legacy
“Mater, our Mother, our foundation and primary support... Enabling Life to thrive on our Mother Earth not just for you my wonderful girls, but 7 times you…”
This project is an act of gratitude to our bountiful and life-sustaining planet and is dedicated to my daughters.
With in mind the seventh principle based on an ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) philosophy where present decisions should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future, I gave life to Mater7u. A space to restore a culture of care and respect, for all forms of Life. A place where place-based wisdom, knowledge, traditions and stories live on and are treasured. Narratives of reconnection shall be told, reconnection to ourselves and to each other through collective exploration and questioning the current patterns and cultures. A place that actively contributes to regional resiliency to positively inspire and affect not only my daughters but also the 6 generations ahead of them.
“..and Materials, our focus, but in a holistic way.”
At Mater7U we hybridize science, local knowledge and transformative practice to understand, model and re-design value chains at a (bio)regional level.
We work through an interdisciplinary approach to support organizations in rethinking materials from a systemic point of view. We look beyond supply chain challenges to identify what regenerative opportunities are available for their business model.
Circular products and material flows? Yes. biobased “regenerative” materials? Kinda… but especially places, people and systems, bioregional systems.
Who says a material is “regenerative”? Science? Mmmm….
Yes, but not only…The regenerative qualities of materials cannot and should not be considered in isolation, and moreover not in isolation from the places where they are collected, grown, managed and disposed of.
Ancient cultures taught us for centuries how to use their resources in a caring symbiosis with nature thanks to a deeply interwoven life oriented design in all of its forms. So how can we bring back care into our design intent?
In Meghalaya, India—known as the wettest place on earth—the Khasis have trained rubber fig trees to grow into bridges across rivers during monsoons and heavy rains. Beyond their utility, they are visually stunning and have become a symbol of how humans can work with, not against, nature.
Photo: Pete Oxford / Courtesy of Taschen
We cannot and should not spare ourselves from this now urgent ethical obligation. In this era of overconsumption materials are everywhere, let's use them to spread a meaningful message.
At Mater7u we want to re-design systems that are able to maintain and transform its regenerative qualities. Systems that are flexible, self aware and that can self regulate resiliently, evolving through disruption and innovation.
This space is based in Menton, at the crossroads of the French Alpes Maritimes and Ligurian coast region (Riviera di Ponente), and wishes to engage both cultural traditions, needs and views in a regenerative dialogue and exploration.
Connecting differences and histories to better understand our own identities. France and Italy can together harness the wisdom and heritage of their territories to shift the perception, change the narrative and move towards a common thriving future.