Pine resin rediscovered: Material Matters 2025, London Design Festival
Share article
Explorations in Pine Resin
At Material Matters 2025, part of the London Design Festival, Jacob Marks presented Explorations in Pine Resin; a study of nature’s versatile material, once set aside in favour of petroleum-based alternatives. His exhibition demonstrates how traditional resources can be reimagined to address contemporary design challenges.
Pine resin has served humanity for millennia. Vikings waterproofed longships with it. Medieval craftsmen employed it as an adhesive. Most notably, it provided light before the advent of electricity.
Jacob's lighting fixtures showcase pine resin's amber translucency, creating warm glows that recall candlelight. These pieces bridge our ancestral relationship with flame and contemporary interiors. His furniture handles harness the material's natural grip and antimicrobial properties; evolution's own solution to surface hygiene. For the first time, Jacob applied pine resin to mirrors, producing reflective surfaces that glow from within.
A particularly striking development is his collaboration with Sanne Visser's Hair Cycle project. Together, they created Sylkera, a composite of human hair waste and pine resin. Hair that would otherwise go to landfills becomes a reinforcing fibre within resin’s protective matrix, resulting in enhanced strength, antimicrobial properties, and complete biodegradability.
Pine resin connects us to deep material memories. Its woody-sweet aroma evokes ancestral recognition. This aligns with our philosophy: our candle collection shares a similar approach. Hand-poured from natural waxes and scented with botanicals sourced from specific coastal locations, these candles extend beyond illumination; they shape time and atmosphere within contemporary spaces.
The challenge is not technical; nature has already provided solutions. It is cultural: convincing markets to embrace materials that demand care and respect.
Marks' work indicates this shift is underway. There is a growing appetite for materials with authentic narratives, objects imbued with the wisdom of forests rather than synthetic anonymity.
The revival of pine resin invites us to reconsider our relationship with materials. What other forgotten partnerships between craft and nature await rediscovery?
Explore our collection of candles, each infused with the essence of specific coastal landscapes, continuing the tradition of materials that connect us to the natural world.
References: Jacob Marks
Related articles
What if your next pair of jeans were grown, not sewn?
When mushrooms eat plastic
By 2049, we might be eating the plastic crisis. Odette Dierkx's Plastik Protein project imagines bioengineered fungi that consume PET bottles, polyurethane foam, and plastic bags, converting plastic waste into edible mycelium protein. The delivery format: chocolate bars, each labelled with the specific waste stream it remediated.
Mycelium of Japan: Between growth and craft
Urushi is tree sap — a material as ancient as the craft it shaped. Harvested from lacquer trees across Southeast Asia, refined through traditional methods, yet never fundamentally altered. Naturally water-resistant and heat-resistant, it develops a distinctive gloss over time. For centuries, Japanese artisans have turned to Urushi because it simply works. Even today, it remains enduring, no synthetic additives, no compromise.