What is the difference between raw material and material?

The raw material is the origin —stone, wood, clay, concrete or metal— and the material is the result of treating it, combining it or manufacturing it with a particular technology. That is why the same raw material can produce very different materials, such as a modified wood or a translucent concrete.

What is Rice Tab and what is it used for?

It is a rice-husk board by Birdmind, in a 2710 × 1360 mm format and 16 and 19 mm thicknesses. It is used for furniture, wall cladding and decorative panels, and takes varnishes, stains, lacquers or digital print. It won the Best Sustainable Product award at Interihotel BCN25.

Where can I see these materials?

At Matter, in Barcelona and Madrid. Book an appointment and our team will advise you on these materials and other options for your project.

It Matters Journal

Conscious Materiality: Matter's proposal at Interihotel 2025

Matter curated the Interihotel BCN25 Materials Lab with the Conscious Materiality exhibition, featuring Birdmind, Vertisol and Insolit, and a workshop.

Products28 Oct 20256 min read

Conscious Materiality: Matter's proposal at Interihotel 2025

At the 2025 edition of Interihotel Barcelona, held from 21 to 23 October at Fira Barcelona Gran Via, Matter presented the exhibition Conscious Materiality in the Materials Lab space, a proposal that invites us to rethink the way we conceive contemporary materiality from a critical, ethical and sustainable perspective.

In this article we look at what the Materials Lab is, what the exhibition set out to do, what the three brands that contributed products —Birdmind, Vertisol and Insolit— bring to a project, and what was covered in the Adaptive Materiality workshop, which the Matter team ran on the last day of the fair.

Interihotel BCN25 and the Materials Lab

Interihotel is the interior design event for hotels and restaurants organised by the AMBIT cluster. The 2025 edition, under the motto “The Power of Encounters”, structured its programme around three themes, one per day: cultural encounters, sustainable encounters and the business of encounters. According to the organisers, it brought together more than 11,675 professionals from 53 countries, over 290 exhibiting brands and more than 240 speakers.

The Materials Lab is one of the four areas of the Interiors Living Lab, the fair's experiential space, alongside the Concept Rooms Lab, the Xperience Lab and the Craft Lab. The organisers describe it as an exhibition of innovative materials selected for their performance, their impact and their sustainable attributes. It was the second consecutive edition in which the Matter team curated this space, following the Materials Lab at Interihotel 2024.

The Conscious Materiality exhibition

Towards an architecture with an ethical, ecological and human sense.

This is how the exhibition introduced itself on the entrance panel. The starting point is a time of environmental urgency and social change that forces us to rethink how we build and inhabit: every material, every form and every building system has an effect on the environment, on health and on our shared future. The exhibition therefore proposed judging materials not only by their appearance or function, but also by their life cycle, their ecological impact and their capacity to enrich the experience of a space.

The selection brought together circular, healthy and innovative materials suited to the needs of hospitality projects, displayed on plinths and grouped by criteria, with a practical aim: to let architects and interior designers handle them, compare them and take away ideas they could apply to their own projects.

General view of the Materials Lab space with the material plinths and visitors — The Materials Lab: plinths grouped by criteria and the exhibition panel listing the partner brands.

Plinth labelled “Circulares” with material samples, next to the Birdmind, Insolit and Vertisol logos — The Materials Lab: plinths grouped by criteria and the exhibition panel listing the partner brands.

Matter as a bridge between inspiration and materialisation

More than an exhibition, Conscious Materiality was conceived as a space for meeting and connection between manufacturers, architects and interior designers. In its role as a bridge between those who design and those who manufacture, Matter helps bring new materials into projects, bringing innovation closer to studios and streamlining the whole process, from inspiration to final materialisation.

Through its expert knowledge and its network of partner brands, Matter turns material exploration into a practical, accessible experience, helping professionals discover solutions that improve the performance, sustainability and expressiveness of their projects.

Two visitors look at samples in front of the Conscious Materiality panel

Professionals walk among the exhibition plinths beneath a suspended circular luminaire

Group of visitors handling material samples on the plinths

Visitors gathered around the Materials Lab plinths — Architects, interior designers and manufacturers explore the Materials Lab during the fair.

Close-up of stone, terrazzo and wood samples next to a black lamp on a plinth — Architects, interior designers and manufacturers explore the Materials Lab during the fair.

The partner brands

Three brands contributed products to the exhibition. Each covers a different part of a project: board, technical textiles and light.

Brand	Based in	What it makes	Key project data
Birdmind	Marcón (Pontevedra)	Rice-husk boards (Rice Tab)	2710 × 1360 mm; 16 and 19 mm; Cs1d0 or Bs1d0 (Plus)
Vertisol	Parets del Vallès (Barcelona)	Technical textiles: floors, walls, acoustics, upholstery and solar protection	ISO 14001, OEKO-TEX and FloorScore, according to the manufacturer
Insolit	Barcelona	Designer and bespoke luminaires	Pendant, table, floor and track; designed and made in Barcelona

The partner brands of Conscious Materiality, according to their official websites.

Birdmind

Birdmind is a Galician company that makes materials from agricultural waste. Its first product, Rice Tab, is a rice-husk board that can replace wood-based or plastic boards in furniture, wall cladding and decorative panels, and is machined with standard woodworking tools. It comes in a 2710 × 1360 mm format, in 16 and 19 mm thicknesses, with a Cs1d0 reaction-to-fire classification, or Bs1d0 for Rice Tab Plus. The manufacturer states that it uses formaldehyde-free binders and an automated line powered by renewable energy with no water consumption.

During the fair, Rice Tab received the Best Sustainable Product award at Interihotel BCN25, granted by AMBIT. According to Birdmind, the board was also on show in the Conscious Materiality exhibition, and its CEO, David Camba, took part in the Diálogos XII panel discussion on 23 October.

Rice Tab rice-husk board pieces and blocks on a brown background — Rice Tab, Birdmind's rice-husk board. Image: Birdmind.

Vertisol

Vertisol has been making technical textiles since 1982. It is based in Parets del Vallès (Barcelona), with its factory in Moraña (Pontevedra), and its range covers woven vinyl flooring, wall coverings, acoustic panels, rugs, upholstery and solar-protection fabrics, a range commonly used in hotels and restaurants. The manufacturer states its commitment to textile solutions made with recycled materials and renewable resources, and holds certifications such as ISO 14001, OEKO-TEX and FloorScore. Eduardo García, from Vertisol, also took part in the Diálogos XII panel.

Insolit

Insolit is a Barcelona lighting firm that designs and makes catalogue and bespoke luminaires: pendants, table and floor lamps and track systems, using materials such as extruded aluminium, glass and steel tubing with integrated LEDs. It works with designers such as Josep Lluís Xuclà, creator of the TR collection, and makes all its pieces in Barcelona for residential, hotel, retail and corporate projects.

The “Adaptive Materiality” workshop

As part of the Interihotel programme, the Matter team ran the Adaptive Materiality workshop on Thursday 23 October in the fair's Atelier, led by Natalia Ojeda, CMO of Matter Group and director of The Grey Matter Agency, and Laura Sunyer, director of Matter Consultancy. It was a space for experimentation focused on five essential raw materials: stone, wood, clay, concrete and metal. Starting from these, the workshop explored how the same raw material can be transformed into very different materials depending on its treatment, its combination or its manufacturing technology.

The fair programme cited examples such as modified woods, hybrid corks and translucent concretes: materials that, depending on the efficiency, circularity or environmental-impact requirements of each project, take on very different functional and expressive properties. The workshop also offered resources for understanding the life cycle of materials and making informed decisions during the design process.

Material samples laid out on cards along a long workshop table

Row of samples and cards on the black workshop table

A participant holds a material sample next to its card

The speakers introduce the workshop in front of a screen in the Atelier

Participants examine the samples on the workshop table

One of the speakers addresses the participants with a microphone — The Adaptive Materiality workshop in the Interihotel BCN25 Atelier.

An attendee holds up a piece of material — The Adaptive Materiality workshop in the Interihotel BCN25 Atelier.

The workshop highlighted the capacity of materials to adapt to the needs of each project, showing how craft processes and cutting-edge technologies can coexist to produce more sustainable, functional and expressive results.

A talk with a microphone among the Atelier tables

Participants talk standing around the workshop tables

One of the speakers explains the workshop with a microphone

A participant photographs the Atelier screen with a phone

A participant holds up a piece of material to the group

General view of the Atelier during the workshop, with participants at the tables — Participants and speakers during the Adaptive Materiality workshop.

Two participants look over the samples laid out on the table — Participants and speakers during the Adaptive Materiality workshop.

Criteria for choosing a conscious material

The exhibition and the workshop shared the same idea: judging a material by more than its appearance. These are the questions worth asking when specifying:

Origin: what raw material it starts from and whether it uses waste or renewable resources, like the rice husk in Rice Tab.
Health: what it emits indoors; ask the manufacturer for formaldehyde and VOC data.
Life cycle: how it can be repaired, dismantled or recovered at the end of its use.
Performance: reaction to fire, behaviour with moisture and durability under intensive use, as in hotels.
Documentation: environmental product declarations (EPD) and verifiable certifications for LEED, BREEAM or WELL.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Interihotel Materials Lab?: It is one of the four areas of the Interihotel Interiors Living Lab: an exhibition of materials selected for their performance, their impact and their sustainable attributes. At the 2025 edition, in Barcelona, it was curated by Matter with the Conscious Materiality exhibition.
What is the difference between raw material and material?: The raw material is the origin —stone, wood, clay, concrete or metal— and the material is the result of treating it, combining it or manufacturing it with a particular technology. That is why the same raw material can produce very different materials, such as a modified wood or a translucent concrete.
What is Rice Tab and what is it used for?: It is a rice-husk board by Birdmind, in a 2710 × 1360 mm format and 16 and 19 mm thicknesses. It is used for furniture, wall cladding and decorative panels, and takes varnishes, stains, lacquers or digital print. It won the Best Sustainable Product award at Interihotel BCN25.
Where can I see these materials?: At Matter, in Barcelona and Madrid. Book an appointment and our team will advise you on these materials and other options for your project.

An invitation to rethink materiality

With the Conscious Materiality exhibition and the Adaptive Materiality workshop, Matter reaffirms its commitment to material innovation, driving a new project culture that is more conscious, collaborative and transformative. This work positions Matter as a key player in the transition towards a more responsible architecture, acting as a bridge between the inspiration and the materialisation of projects.

Samples of cork, wood chips, pineapple leaf, bamboo and plant-fibre boards on a plinth — Cork, bamboo, wood chips and pineapple leaf: some of the samples in the exhibition.

Thanks to the brands that collaborated by lending products for this exhibition, especially Birdmind, Vertisol and Insolit. If you would like to learn more about these materials —and discover many other proposals for your projects— book an appointment at Matter.