Emotive Willow
CMF Design
Sustainable Material
Material Innovation
Surface Design
Research and Insght
Challenge
After an initial research phase, I set out to create a mono-material palette that could align with circular design principles while still offering functionality, sensory richness, and emotional connection.
The aim wasn’t just to make a sustainable material, but to rethink how materials can emotionally support people in environments often dominated by cold, synthetic finishes—such as public interiors and transportation spaces.
Airport lounges became my real-world testing ground: spaces between movement and pause, where travellers often feel stress, fatigue, or the need for calm.
While aviation technology has progressed, ground-side environments have lagged behind in material innovation—particularly when it comes to regenerative, biophilic materials
Solution
Through comparative material analysis, willow emerged as a highly promising yet underutilised material—lightweight, strong, flexible, fast-growing, locally sourced, and offering warm, tactile beauty.
I developed Emotive Willow, a mono-material system designed to shape light, texture, colour, and tactile transitions, moving far beyond its heritage in basketry.
The solution is built on five key principles:
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Material Regeneration – working with the whole willow plant (bark, fibres, pulp, sawdust) to create a closed-loop material cycle
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Multi-Format Versatility – structural panels, mouldable composites, and textile-like sheets from a single raw source
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Sensory Wellbeing – calming tones, natural gradients, and organic light diffusion to reduce stress and support emotional transitions in space
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Colour from Nature – bio-based pigments from willow leaves and bark, offering authentic, light-responsive hues
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Craft + Technology Integration – bridging hand processes with digital fabrication to enable scalable production
In a lounge setting, this material system can be applied to social seating areas, private booths, dining zones, and feature walls—each designed to improve both aesthetic and emotional quality, while remaining fully circular.