Surface Design Show 2026 reaffirms its commitment to nurturing emerging design talent, placing material innovation, sustainability and future-focused thinking firmly at the heart of the show. Through its ongoing partnerships with the Royal College of Art, the Green Grads initiative and for the first time the Emerging Talent category within the Surface Design Show Awards, the 2026 edition highlights a new generation of designers redefining what surface design can be.
Across the exhibition, visitors will encounter projects that challenge extractive systems, transform waste streams and place human and environmental wellbeing at the centre of material design.
Royal College of Art
Among the featured RCA designers is Zoë Onatoye, whose contemplative practice explores material reuse, nature and wellbeing. Developed from her master’s thesis in collaboration with the Earls Court Development Company, her project transforms construction site waste into a portable hanging garden for site workers. Using reclaimed scaffolding clamps, fallen lacewood branches, living plants and a hand-stitched bioplastic textile, the structure introduces moments of calm within overstimulating environments, supporting mental wellbeing while improving air quality through direct contact with nature.
Also exhibiting is Olivia Webb, whose work questions value, permanence and material hierarchies within architecture. Her modular tile system is cast in Jesmonite embedded with discarded rose petals sourced from the commercial floral industry and once-owned bouquets. As the tiles age and subtly shift over time, they challenge conventional notions of durability and invite a gentler, more emotionally responsive approach to architectural surfaces. Webb’s research-led practice explores how unstandardised and perishable materials might inform alternative building systems.
Green Grads
Surface Design Show’s long-standing support of Green Grads brings forward designers pioneering genuinely regenerative material solutions.
“We are a very broad church,” says Barbara Chandler founder of Green Grads. “Our Green Gradshave a huge range of environmental concerns, from carbon and climate to new bio-materials, creative use of waste, pollution, circularity, durability, repair, biodiversity, diminishing species and much more. We are very excited about the upcoming Surface Design Show.” Mobina Rajabimoghadam presents Bio Recursive, an eggshell-based biomaterial composed of 84% waste eggshells sourced from local restaurants. Fully compostable, durable and machinable, the material offers a scalable alternative to virgin resources while avoiding energy-intensive recycling systems. Suitable for interiors, lighting and product design, the biomaterial demonstrates that organic waste can be transformed into desirable, high-performance surfaces that regenerate rather than deplete the environment.
Josh Myers showcases Denimolite, a distinctive composite surface material created from post- consumer denim, manufacturing off-cuts and difficult-to-recycle stretch fabrics. Celebrating the visual identity of textile waste rather than concealing it, each panel features marble-like swirls unique to its fibre history. Engineered for circularity, Denimolite operates a zero-waste manufacturing process with take-back schemes at end-of-life, offering architects and designers a premium, durable surface with embedded sustainability credentials.
Emerging Talent – Surface Design Show Awards
The Emerging Talent category of the Surface Design Show Awards is new for 2026 and throws a spotlight on boundary pushing concepts with real-world potential.
Soft Armours: Reimagining Fish Scales by Poulami Saha explores fish scales as a family of biomaterials for surface and textile design. Transforming a culturally significant waste stream from Kolkata markets into bio-sequins, leathers, papers and interior panels, the project combines biodesign, craft and storytelling. Entirely biodegradable and produced using low-tech, non-toxic processes, it proposes a socially and environmentally regenerative model that supports coastal communities while addressing microplastic pollution.
David McGill presents Ruvi Acoustic Tile, a slip-cast ceramic wall tile designed to improve the acoustic and sensory quality of public infrastructure such as the London Underground. Inspired by ancient Roman acoustic principles, Ruvi integrates Helmholtz resonators into a modular ceramic form that dampens targeted noise frequencies without relying on synthetic foams. Durable, locally manufacturable and made from 97% natural materials, Ruvi reframes ceramics as a permanent, human-centred acoustic solution for contemporary urban environments.
Together, these projects exemplify Surface Design Show 2026’s role as a platform for experimentation, critical thinking and sustainable innovation. By supporting emerging designers at the forefront of material research, the show continues to shape the future of surface design where beauty, performance and responsibility coexist.
To vote for who you think should win the emerging talent category in Surface Design Show Awards
please visit the website Emerging Talent – Surface Design Show 2026
Surface Design Show 2026 takes place at the Business Design Centre, London, bringing together
global material pioneers, manufacturers and designers redefining the built environment.
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