FERIA MATERIALS MATTER 2022

A report on the Feria Materials Matter 2022 at Matter Barcelona: eleven materials brands and a programme of talks within the Model festival.

EventsMaterials Matter Exhibition1 of 525 May 20222 min read

On 12 May 2022 we held the Feria Materials Matter at our Barcelona space, with the aim of bringing industry closer to architecture, as part of Model. Festival de Arquitecturas de Barcelona 2022.

The day focused on showing different perspectives on new materials and on innovations in products and systems for architecture that allow more ecological ways of building. It combined a product exhibition by eleven brands with a programme of talks. Here is a video summary of the day.

Summary of the Feria Materials Matter 2022YouTube

A fair within Model, Barcelona’s architecture festival

Model. Festival de Arquitecturas de Barcelona took place from 5 to 15 May 2022, co-organised by Barcelona City Council and the Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC, the Architects’ Association of Catalonia). It was the first edition, conceived as the first major event of Barcelona’s tenure as UIA-UNESCO World Capital of Architecture 2026, and it took over from the Architecture Week the city had held over the previous five years.

The festival was organised around five themes: Entre-Clases, Entre-Culturas, Entre-Especies, Entre-Generaciones and Entre-Materias (between classes, cultures, species, generations and materials). According to the official presentation, the last of these held that cities will have to be rebuilt with new sustainable materials and methods that reduce their material footprint, with the reuse and circularity of resources as basic procedures. This is the field Matter works in, and it is what gave meaning to a materials fair within the festival.

Product exhibition: from natural coverings to demountable systems

Eleven brands with collections and systems for interiors and exteriors.

At this event, we were able to see a product exhibition by a selection of brands, who shared new collections and systems for building and for designing interior and exterior spaces, with a range of approaches from natural coverings to demountable systems.

Visitors looking at surface samples next to the Lunawood panel — The fair at Matter’s Barcelona space.

A visitor picks up a sample from a table with yellow product tins — The fair at Matter’s Barcelona space.

Hand holding a sample over a table with pieces in different colours and textures — Flooring and wall-covering samples on the brands’ tables.

Three women talking at a table with timber samples — Flooring and wall-covering samples on the brands’ tables.

Participating brands

These were the eleven brands that exhibited at the fair. We list their speciality and origin according to each manufacturer:

Brand	Speciality	Origin
Interface	Modular carpet and resilient flooring	USA
Klein	Sliding, folding and hinged doors	Spain
Lunawood	Thermally modified timber	Finland
La Pietra Compattata	Unfired compacted stone	Italy
Mardegan Legno	Timber flooring and cladding	Italy / Hungary
Nesite	Raised access floors	Italy
Sto	Façade systems and ETICS	Germany
Peronda	Ceramic floor and wall tiles	Spain
LafargeHolcim	Cement, concrete and mortar	International
Ecoclay	Clay coverings and boards	Spain
Beal	Microcement (Mortex) and terrazzo (Bealstone)	Belgium

Brands taking part in the Feria Materials Matter 2022, with their speciality according to each manufacturer.

Since 2023, LafargeHolcim has grouped its commercial brands in Spain under the Holcim name. In the Journal we have devoted articles to several of these brands, such as La Pietra Compattata, Mardegan Legno, Lunawood, Ecoclay and Sto.

Group of visitors talking in the exhibition aisle — Visitors and brand representatives during the fair.

A representative talks to two visitors by the Klein stand — Exchanges between professionals and manufacturers around the samples.

Four people talking at a table with ceramic samples — Exchanges between professionals and manufacturers around the samples.

Talks on manufacturing, design and healthier materials

The day was also accompanied by a programme of talks on manufacturing, architecture and interior design projects, and healthier, more innovative materials.

Audience seated in front of a screen during one of the talks — Audience at the programme of talks.

General view of the audience during a presentation, with the projection screen behind — Audience at the programme of talks.

Healthier materials were one of Matter’s lines of work in 2022. That same year, Matter HUB’s Summit Series: Healthier Materials brought together architecture and interior design studios, a contractor, an environmental medicine specialist and, from the industry, Sto and Honext, to analyse the impact of building materials on people’s health.

A speaker presents a project projected on screen to the audience — Speakers from different brands during the fair.

A speaker points at the screen during his presentation — Speakers from different brands during the fair.

A speaker in a blue jacket addresses the audience

A speaker talks into a microphone to the seated audience

A speaker reads her notes during her presentation

A speaker discusses a Sto slide on external wall insulation

A speaker in a dark T-shirt presents with a microphone

A speaker in a white suit talks into a microphone

Industry and architecture in the same space

It was a pleasure to share meetings with industry professionals once again, discovering and discussing new materials and projects focused on sustainability and innovation.

A speaker talks in front of a screen showing a projected plan

A speaker in a white shirt addresses the audience

A speaker presents next to a projected image of a terrazzo-like surface

A speaker addresses the audience next to the Matter HUB sign — Presentations during the fair, one of them with the Interface presentation on screen.

See you at the next edition!

Epilogue: the event continued. In June 2023, the Materials Matter 2023 Exhibition moved to the COAC headquarters in Barcelona; in 2024 there were two editions, at the REBUILD fair (IFEMA Madrid) in March and again at the COAC in October; and in June 2025 the exhibition returned to the COAC.

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