In this episode of Material Change we chat to Benadette Pompili. Pompili is a social designer and ceramic researcher based in Amsterdam. Her practice is dedicated to materials and their narratives with a focus on the ecological impact of art, design and industrial production. Her research aims to spread knowledge, motivate care, and retrace tradition by thinking and acting intersectionally.

We talk in-depth about one of her key research projects that explores extractive stories of clays. Pompili worked with a polluted river clay, developing processes that used treated asbestos as a filler to lessen the amount of mined clay needed. The project’s dramatic findings are the result of a durational methodology that relied on the designer establishing conversations between materials and techniques, industry and craft, experts and institutions, scientific findings and cultural associations. It was also based in an ecology that Benedetta was deeply connected to, the region was where she was born and connects to her social and familial history.

We talk about how her practice informs her work as a Workshop Technician at the Rijksakademie, and how her interconnected approach inform the everyday workings of a busy ceramic workshop. It’s the confluence of these different perspectives that make Pompili’s experiences and approach so interesting – we hope you enjoy it!

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