In February of 2025, I chose to pursue an internship with designer Marte Mei because her values resonate deeply with my own, and I greatly admire her innovative approach to product development. I spent 6 months working on ceramics, glazes, government funded projects, preparing and assisting exhibitions by her side.
Project/
Nesse
The project Pfas/Vlas focuses on cleaning up PFAS contamination by growing and harvesting flax in the contaminated residential garden and creating a design object from it. During her year long residency in Nesse, Marte Mei will investigate how flax and hemp could contribute to cleaning PFAS-contaminated soil, to discover if designers can work with these plants safely within their production processes as part of a regenerative cycle. To explore this, she will collaborate with a broad network of partners – from soil specialists to material labs – with the aim to find clear answers that can be shared with local actors and which results can be translated into tangible design objects. The project involves growing and harvesting crops on several PFAS-contaminated plots to explore the potential of phytoremediation: the breakdown, uptake, or stabilisation of soil pollutants by plants as a method to restore the soil.
Project/
Table
Project/
Experiment
Marte aims to safely reuse plant residues from regenerative phytoextraction for ceramic glaze. Phytoextraction removes heavy metals from soil, leaving residues that must be managed responsibly. De Ceuvel’s circular incubator seeks honorable, pollution-free uses for these residues. Marte’s Land-Allyship approach guides site-specific, value-adding objects for more-than-human beings, through interdisciplinary work with ecologists, plants, animals, insects, and fungi. Currently, Marte is testing how this practice can enhance regenerative processes like phytoextraction, in close collaboration with Anke Wijnja at De Ceuvel. The Amsterdam North incubator features autonomous structures built on soil without foundations and the Purifying Park, where phytoextraction is applied.
Sessún Store opening
Assisting in build up of Matter and Shape Paris
Assisting in setting up Bothi pop up
Accompanying Marte to Design Insights
Accompanying Marte to Unveiled Nature exhibition
Accompanying Marte to Collectible Brussels
Solid Nature factory visit
Studio visit to Vuur Collective
Accompanying to De Glasblazerij
Assisting in Solid Nature photoshoot
Matter and Shape Paris opening