Lucie Libotte
Challenge
Dust Matter(s) began as a case study examining discarded matter – domestic dust – with the aim of sharing a new insight of value making in the field of material innovation. The project collects domestic dust and turns it into a valuable, analytic ceramic sample – with applications across architecture, science, interior and household wares.
Impact
Domestic dust has never been considered as a material and it has negative connotations in the contexts of social behaviour, health, environment and science. The attitude toward this substance can potentially be redefined entirely – re-orientating the way domestic dust is perceived and integrating it into artefacts that relate to where they came from. The essence of the project is not primarily the aesthetic of each object, but rather the way the object is read by people. The final result is not a functional product, but an artefact that can be placed within the context of its environment, and can be read as visual historical narrative.
Lucie Libotte is a designer from Belgium who uses material as a starting point for wide-ranging explorations. A graduate of the BA Textile Design course at Central St Martin’s in London, Lucie began exploring how we interact with textiles and how this changes our perceptions and ideas of our surroundings. Her work embraces the notion of ephemerality and mankind’s efforts to understand and recreate physical aspects found in natural environments.