This episode of Material Matters is as much about an object as it is a material. Tom Broughton is the founder of Cubitts, a modern spectacles company based in London’s Kings Cross. The company started in 2013 from his kitchen table and has grown to 20 stores across the UK and US, serving 250,000 customers across 100 countries. It offers frames in a number of materials – such as stainless steel and titanium – but is renowned for its use of acetate.

According to the company’s website Cubitts was ‘founded to help more people live better lives through spectacles they proudly wear – and creating a better, and more responsible, industry along the way.’

In this episode we talk about: how early Modernism influenced Cubitts; living in (and loving) the Isokon building; founding his company and ‘literally doing everything’; not having a business plan; the joy of acetate and how the material defines his brand; a brief history of spectacles and London’s making legacy; why he has a problem with the word ‘eyewear’; being prescribed glasses at the age of 14 and collecting vintage frames in his 20s; getting bored easily and enjoying failure; disrupting the optics industry; being 'unrelenting' and making sacrifices in his personal life; and having an addictive personality.

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Brodie Neill is a Tasmanian-born but London-based furniture designer, who has made a name for himself by creating pieces from waste and reclaimed materials. In 2016, for example, he represented Australia at the inaugural London Design Biennale with his exhibition entitled, Plastic Effects. In it, he showcased the Gyro Table, with a top made of fragments of recycled ocean plastic that had been salvaged from beaches in places like Hawaii and Cornwall.

Over the years, his furniture pieces have been made from dowels, reclaimed school floors, and wood found in some extraordinary places. He has also collaborated with brands such as Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz and Alexander McQueen, while his limited edition works feature in museums and galleries around the globe.

In this episode, we talk about: why he found himself in the Antarctic earlier this year; sharing a ship with over 30 scientists; the new work that is emerging from the 'adventure of a lifetime'; how finding plastic on a Tasmanian beach proved a pivotal moment in his career; creating the iconic Gyro Table; how he collects ocean plastic; creating high end products from ‘underwater’ wood and old school floors; unleashing ‘material potential’; inheriting his grandfather’s tools; day dreaming at school; and why he needs to be near making.

And remember the inaugural Assemble with Material Matters takes place on 20 November at the Bank of England Conference Centre. Tickets cost £175 (+ VAT) and are officially available until 6 November. To secure your place click here

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James Fox wears a couple of hats. He is director of studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and creative director of the Hugo Burge Foundation.

As well as that he is a BAFTA-nominated broadcaster and an author with a brand new book out. Craftland: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Arts & Vanishing Trades is his journey through Britain to discover the craftspeople that literally make this island. En route he meets dry stone wallers, a rush weaver, a thatcher, a letter cutter and a watchmaker to name just a few.

The book illustrates what we once had and what we could be in danger of losing, while also highlighting the importance of hand skill and materiality in a digital age.

In this episode we talk about: why ‘craft’ remains a contentious word; craft as both a contemporary invention and an approach to life; the relationship between hand making and digital culture; how Fox discovered art as a child; bridging the divide between fine art and craft; the field’s ‘inherent diversity’; what the state could do to help makers; crafts potential role in the transition to Net Zero; why Craftland is ‘nostalgic for the present’; the importance of tacit knowledge; and why the future of making in Britain is bright.

You can purchase a copy of Craftland here.

The full programme for Assemble with Material Matters, our new one-day conference held at the Bank of England Conference Centre on 20 November, is available here.

And you can secure your place at the conference here.

If you love the podcast, you’ll adore the conference.

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