Accra based non-profit organisation The Or Foundation will unveil recycled textiles platform Foose Materials for the first time publicly as part of London Design Festival. Showcasing at Material Matters, an annual design event and trade show focused on the vital role that materials and sustainability play in architecture, craft, and design, Foose Materials will introduce two new recycled material lines alongside products developed using these materials.
Cassaboard and Tarnty are innovations of The Or Foundation’s Material Technology and Transformation Lab (MTTL), where a team of engineers, designers and citizen scientists have been developing material pathways that divert post-consumer garment waste collected at Kantamanto Market in Accra.
Cassaboard is a recycled biocomposite made from post consumer textile waste. The unsold and discarded textiles are shredded and blended with cassava based binders – a natural and locally abundant resource – transforming them into a fiberboard material suitable for various interior building applications. The material’s superior sound absorption properties makes it the perfect base material for the Foose Acoustics line featuring bookshelf speakers and geometric acoustic panels. The bright colours in each piece are drawn entirely from the recycled textiles meaning no additional dyes are used throughout the process.
Tarnty is a circular t-shirt yarn, made from unsold t-shirts sourced in Kantamanto Market. Developed in response to the volume of low-quality, single use t-shirts – merchandise produced for conferences, company events, marathons and hen dos– flooding the secondhand market, each ball of Tarnty is made from one t-shirt. The yarn is suitable for knitting, crochet, weaving and other crafts. The yarn will be showcased alongside woven products, including traditional cloth and garments made in collaboration with weaving communities in Northern Ghana.
Kantamanto is one of the world’s largest secondhand clothing markets, receiving approximately 15 million used garments each week, exported primarily from the UK, Europe and North America. The rise of the fast fashion business model, that prioritises volume over value resulting in declining garment quality, has left countries such as Ghana at the receiving end of a mounting waste crisis, visible in mountainous landfill piles, clogged waterways and beaches littered with discarded clothing.
While this crisis has been widely documented, less attention has been paid to the solutions being developed by affected communities on the ground. Through Foose Materials, The Or Foundation aims to divert waste and create new value streams while reducing debt, remediating landscapes and generating dignified work for the Kantamanto community.
Material Matters, the cross-media platform promoting material intelligence in architecture and design, returns for its fifth London edition from 15-17 September 2026 in a new home. UNLOCKED Shoreditch is a multi-level former industrial warehouse on Curtain Road, at the heart of Shoreditch Design Week (SDW) – the most significant district within the annual London Design Festival. Tickets are free but all attendees are required to register here or on arrival at the fair.
About The Or Foundation:
The Or Foundation (pronounced “or”) is a not-for-profit organization working at the intersection of education, environmental justice and fashion development to catalyze a Justice-led circular economy grounded in community ecological care. Based in Accra Ghana, home to Kantamanto Market — the world’s largest secondhand clothing market and leading hub for reuse, repair, upcycling, and remanufacturing — The Or Foundation has leveraged its insights and firsthand knowledge to identify and implement innovative solutions, advocate for meaningful international policy change and brand accountability, lead science-backed research initiatives, and provide education and programming. theor.org | @theorispresent | @wearefoose
About Material Matters:
Material Matters launched in 2019 as a critically acclaimed podcast hosted by former Blueprint and Crafts editor Grant Gibson. 150 episodes later, it has grown into a leading international platform for material intelligence in architecture and design, convening the global design community through its fairs in London and Copenhagen, its annual conference, Assemble, and an ongoing editorial programme. Material Matters is owned and organised by Delizia Media Ltd, established in 2021 by Grant Gibson and William Knight, one-time director of 100% Design and Clerkenwell Design Week. Together the duo bring more than 50 years of experience in design writing, broadcasting, event organisation and promotion – championing a deeper understanding of materials, sustainability, craft and innovation. materialmatters.design | @materialmatters.design
