Dezeen Magazine

Henna Burney extols "extraordinary potential" of salt in live interview for Dezeen 15

Day 10 of the Dezeen 15 virtual festival saw material designer Henna Burney of Atelier Luma divulge the potential of salt as a material for the future in a live video interview.

"The future will be built with materials that are both new and old," Burney states in her manifesto written for Dezeen 15. "Salt is a material of the future: an essential life-supporting mineral, ancient in its uses and abundant as a resource."

However, she believes designers are currently failing to take notice of abundant natural resources such as salt in the quest for new materials.

"Natural but overlooked materials such as salt have extraordinary potential," Burney explains.

"We only need to look around with fresh eyes, rediscover lost knowledge and chart new ways of thinking about materials and their ecosystems."

Alongside her manifesto, today Burney is also showcasing cladding panels that she made using salt as well as new software that could help other designers make use of the material.

Henna Burney is a material designer based at the design and research laboratory, Atelier Luma, in Arles, France. She specialises in developing new types of biomaterials.

The Dezeen 15 festival features 15 manifestos presenting ideas that could change the world over the next 15 years. All contributors will also take part in a live video interview. See the full list of contributors here.

The portrait of Burney is by Iwan Baan