Studio – studio sustainable matter

About

studio sustainable matter is a material-based design and consultancy studio working interdisciplinarily at the intersection of between product design, spatial design and material research.

We explore and reimagine alternative materials in response to the climate crisis and strive for „design that matters“ – projects that create value and have a positive social and ecological impact.

Through co-creative, craft-oriented processes, we investigate the possibilities and limits of locally sourced materials and raw matter. Our work combines local, traditional knowledge with innovative design methods. By navigating the tension between old and new, vernacular approaches and highly innovative materials, we develop novel, context-sensitive solutions.

We drive towards a new understanding, perception and use of materials.

WE ARE OPEN FOR CREATIVE COOPERATIONS AND PROJECTS. GET IN TOUCH!

info@studiosustainablematter.com

Founder Melissa Acker completed her diploma (German Master’s equivalent) in Industrial Design at the Stuttgart State Academy of Fine Arts (ABK) in 2019. In 2018, she participated in research trips with Prof. Fabienne Hoelzel, conducting workshops for the development and implementation of mobile dry diversion toilets in informal settlements in Lagos (Nigeria) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) with a scholarship from Heinrich-Böll-Foundation Nigeria.

As a product and interior designer as well as a sustainable materials manager, she has worked in international companies as well as local design agencies, like Festo AG, Adam Opel AG, IDAID and DFROST, to promote the use of alternative materials and has been a driving force in the development of the sustainability certification Sustainably Made Retail Spaces for VMM.

Since 2021, she is academic associate in Interior Architecture at the Technical University of Applied Sciences (HFT) Stuttgart, where she researches natural building materials such as clay, hemp, and mycelium, and teaches material knowledge in seminars, material-based design projects and hands-on DesignBuild formats. Her goal is to increase ecological awareness, impart material knowledge, and advance the (experimental) research on alternative materials. In 2023, she initiated the Myco Lab – Labor für Pilzwerkstoffe at HFT, which led to cooperations with several material producers as well as external institutions like Fraunhofer UMSICHT and „FuMaLab“ at University of Stuttgart. Since 2024, she has been a member of the committee of the HFT Hanfbausymposium.

In 2022, Melissa Acker founded studio sustainable matter, combining material research, circular design, and knowledge transfer–for instance, contributing to the bio-based material database of Internationale Bauausstellung StadtRegion Stuttgart (IBA’27) and Pilzfestspiele Vienna, an international conference on fungal science. As designer, author, lecturer, and speaker, she advocates for the potential of regenerative building materials and passes on her experience in workshops, seminars and circular design consultancy.

Her work has received multiple design and sustainability awards and has been published internationally in renowned print- and online magazines such as md magazine, Konsept Projeler – Concepts & Projects, AIT, designboom and baunetz CAMPUS, and has been exhibited multiple times.

Network

We stand for interdisciplinary collaboration. Depending on the project, we bring in additional experts from our network, which spans independent creatives, emerging companies, and experienced partners: from interior designers and architects to carpenters, exhibition and shop fitters, material manufacturers, communication and product designers, photographers, and natural building specialists such as clay builders and hemp construction specialists.

Since November 2025, we are part of the Habitat.CoLab Expert Collective. As active member of the Habitat.CoLab Alliance of Professionals, we contribute our expertise in sustainable material innovation and the hands-on application of regenerative, bioregional building materials. Together, we are driving the implementation of natural building materials in real-world projects.

Awards & Nominations

2026 – competitionline CAMPUS Award | Auszeichnung Fakultätsprojekte „Flight into Shadow“

2025 – LIT Lighting Design Awards „Flight into Shadow“

2025 – competitionline CAMPUS Award | Engere Wahl Fakultätsprojekte „Mycelium Model Making“

2024 – Modellbaupreis „Closing the Circle“, Kategorie „Innovation“: Janina Lamm, Exhibition Pavilion (Mycelium Model Making)

2024 – competitionline CAMPUS Award | Engere Wahl Fakultätsprojekte „Staging Lino“

2022 – 10. Recycling-Designpreis | Ausgezeichnete Ideen „LEAFovers – natural material studies“

2021 – New Material Design Competition by KHALIL | Winner Best Industrial Material „LEAFovers – natural material studies“

2021 – Creative Conscience Award – Category Product & Structural Design | Winner Silver „Traditional Crafts – Regional Support of Traditional Handicrafts“

2018 – Green Concept Award | Selection „MAJA“

2018 – Green Concept Award | Selection „Leftover Materials“

2018 – Creative Conscience Award | Shortlist „Leftover Materials“

2018 – competitionline CAMPUS Award | Winner „Creative Hacking“

2017 – campusWELTbewerb | Winner of the year at the Award for Global Sustainability at Universities in Baden-Württemberg

Exhibitions

studio projects:

02-04/2023 – MAKK | Museum of Applied Arts Cologne: „Between The Trees“ – Urban Greenery, Art and Design

11/2022 – Galerie Nord | Kunstverein Tiergarten: exhibition „10. RecyclingDesignpreis – Ausgezeichnete Ideen“

11/2022 – KHALIL Design Week | Material Hall: LEAF MATERIALS

06-10/2022 – Marta Herford – Museum für Kunst, Architektur, Design: Ausstellung „10. RecyclingDesignpreis – Ausgezeichnete Ideen“

06-09/2022 – KHALIL Design Week | Material Hall: New Material Design Competition by KHALIL Design / Got Talent, Young Professionals

2018 – Green Concept Award @ Designers‘ Open Leipzig

2017 – „REGATTA“ as part of the exhibition series „Design now!“ at EnBW City Headquarter Stuttgart

2014-2018 – RUNDGANG @ Stuttgart State Academy of Arts and Design

teaching projects:

09-11/2025 – „Bioregionale Baustoffe“ , IBA’27 Raum Stuttgart

05/-10/2025 – „Flight into Shadow“, Installation im Rahmen der Ausstellung „keep cool! Workshop for cool cities“ parallel zur Architekturbiennale, im Salone Verde art & social club, Venedig

10/2024 – BEST OF 24, HFT Stuttgart

06/2024 – Innenansichten 2024, HFT Stuttgart

06/2024 – Denk und Macherei, HFT Stuttgart

02/2024 – Mycelium experiments, exhibition HFTLab HFT Stuttgart

10/2023 – BEST OF 23, HFT Stuttgart

07/2023 – Einblick / Ausblick 2023, Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel

06/2023 – Innenansichten 2023, HFT Stuttgart

05/2023 – interzum cologne 2023

03/2023 – Blickfang Designmesse Stuttgart

Lectures

10/2025 – „Materialbasiertes Entwerfen mit Pilzmyzel – Vom Materialexperiment zum Architektur-Konzept“ , Pilzfestspiele Wien

09/2025 – „Design with the Existing: Reuse Materials“, lecture at Politecnico di Milano/Sede di Piacenza, as part of the IMIAD International Workshop
„LUOGHI COMUNI – PUBLIC SPACES“ (HFT Stuttgart, SUPSI Mendrisio, ITU Istanbul)

02/2025 – 3 presentations at the Building Beyond Borders Symposium 2025 „The Power of Reciprocity“ by Hasselt University, Belgium

10/2024 – contribution to the HFT Hanfbausymposium 2024 with a lecture on the topic of „Hemp-Mushroom Mycelium – Hemp as feedstock for fungal building materials“

01/2024 – panel discussion on „bio-circular materials in interior architecture and design“ together with Thomas Salzmann (Zuber Salzmann Studio, Zürich), Martin Huwiler (HSLU Luzern) and Prabitha Urwyler (Innosuisse, Bern) moderated and organized by Pascal Johanssen (Direktorenhaus Berlin) at the Swiss Embassy in Berlin

05/2022 – lecture „reduce – reuse – recycle – rethink: sustainable materials in architecture and design“ @ KHALIL Design Week

2019-2021 – Monthly Green Material @ DFROST Retail Identity

since 2021: several teaching projects at HFT Hochschule für Technik (University of Applied Sciences) Stuttgart, Istanbul Technical University, Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel and Münster School of Design

About

Network

Awards & Nominations

Exhibitions

Lectures

Selected Clients & Collaborators

Publications & Press