Today, Tom Ash from #citylis and I were treated to a tour & fascinating chat at the SCIN Gallery, home of the UK’s “largest independent materials library and resource library”.

(That’s pronounced /skin/–turns out I’ve been saying it wrong for a few weeks now!)

What the heck is a materials library? In their own words:

“We are a materials Sourcing and Advisory Gallery. We find new materials and show them to Architects, Designers and Specifiers in an inspirational and informative way.”

Basically, they collect samples of materials from anyone–large corporations, architect firms, global startups, charities working with NGO’s and small businesses everywhere from Stirling to Capetown. They then organize and display these materials based on the type &/or qualities of materials. Boxes included ‘cork’, ‘upcycled’, ‘coconut’, and ‘food waste’.  You can see some of their boxes below. These boxes are easily accessible–all you do is pull them off the shelf…