Design studio Other Matter has built on its flagship product, a petrochemical-free signage film, by recycling it into an upholstery material called Other Matter Leather, on show this week at 3 Days of Design.

Other Matter Leather creates a closed loop for the studio's OM Signage Film, which launched last year as a more sustainable alternative to the PVC vinyl or polyester film typically used for shop window decals, exhibition wall text or wayfinding.

It has already been used by clients ranging from the MoMA to the Australian Open.

An algae-based bioplastic, OM Signage Film has the environmental and health benefits of being non-toxic and petrochemical-free, but it is still ultimately a single-use material.

This made Other Matter founder Jessie French want to have a plan for its ongoing use from the beginning.

"The signage started because I had an artistic practice that was envisaging a post-petrochemical world, but then every single exhibition has everything about your practice written in one of the most toxic kinds of plastic," French told Dezeen.

These unrecyclable films are only used briefly before being thrown away, and the PVC vinyl varieties are known to contain high levels of phthalates, a group of chemicals considered harmful to human health.

"So that was a little bit awkward," French continued. "I developed the material system to resolve that, which was OM Signage Film."

"But the biggest problem we have with petrochemical plastics is what happens after they've been used, and so I really wanted to design a system that was completely circular from the beginning. The leather is that [system]."

Other Matter Leather not only takes back and recycles the studio's signage film, it turns it into a more premium product.

The soft sheet material is suitable for furniture upholstery and is described by French as having a similar look, feel and pliability to leather, with a subtle grain created naturally by tiny bubbles that occur during the curing process.

Both the Signage Film and Leather are currently made entirely in Other Matter's Melbourne-based studio, using a small-batch process similar to cooking food in a kitchen.

For the film, algae and other bio-based materials are boiled in pots of water to make a mixture with a smooth consistency, which is poured into trays and cured overnight. The next day it can be peeled off the trays and the process begins again.

For the "leather", the process is similar, with the returned film being re-boiled to break it down, this time with the addition of charcoal.

The charcoal has the effect of both giving the mixture a unified dark colour and creating a leathery feel because of its grit.

While this is the current method for making Other Matter Leather, the studio has worked with Australia's scientific research agency the CSIRO to develop a plan for a scaled-up process that it says will look similar to other thin sheet material mass production.

French says that it is possible to make other colours to order besides black, and that lab testing of the material is to come in the future.

The most difficult part, and the element that French says she has spent the most time on, is the economic model for sustainable closed-loop production.

"Most recycling doesn't fail on chemistry. It fails on economics," she said. "If the value of what comes out of the loop doesn't justify the cost of running the loop, the loop closes once and never again."

The first works made with Other Matter's material are new versions of a Made by Morgen seating range that was originally upholstered in leather.

After debuting at Melbourne Design Week in May, it will be on display during Copenhagen's 3 Days of Design at the Australian group exhibition Latitude.

Aesop, a repeat Other Matter collaborator, will meanwhile host installations made with the signage film at its Nyhavn and Kronprinsensgade stores.

Other Matter was the winner of surface design of the year in the 2025 Dezeen Awards for its signage film and an associated architectural surface material, which is cast into substrates on site for a permanent finish.