Materials made us human. Interest in the properties and structures of things reaches back to the first flint hand axes and bone needles.

Now materials science uses deep interdisciplinary knowledge to explore the properties of matter, yielding explosive growth in new materials. Beyond the glamour of letting concrete shine and fabric glow these strange new stuffs challenge our understanding of the world around us. When solids can be almost all air, concrete can be draped like cloth, and sugar can become stone, opportunities for reimagining and remaking the objects we use and live with are radically opened up.

How will novel and sustainable manufacturing process affect infrastructure and our relationship to our things and our world? We are already growing packaging, but can we really regrow our crumbling cities? Will we learn to partner more closely with living and near-living things?

New materials and ways of making allow us to reimagine our infrastructure. When waste plastic can become filament for cheap, open-source 3D printers copying pirated designs, what happens to factories and logistics networks? Can new materials build new solutions? What will the future be made of?

The event was one of a series leading up to Nesta's FutureFest, a weekend of events challenging us to imagine and shape what is to come.

What new object would you like to see at home? The top 10 answers!

In the lead up to the event, we asked everyone coming along: What new object would you like to see in your home? What would it be made of? Where would it come from and what would it become?

Screens and surfaces

• Walls that change to reflect moods or desirable views such as beachscapes or snow covered hills
• A sculpture that changes according to mood, sometimes from something beautiful to something useful and vice versa.
• Applied finish to make surfaces responsive/reactive
• More integrated or invisible items, such as objects so deeply integrated they cannot be seen.

Sustainable solutions

• More locally sourced wood furniture. Items for the home that you love so much you want to pass them on.
• A Star Trek style replicator which uses unwanted objects as resource to make new, more useful ones.
• Natural air conditioning made of a plant and technology hybrid.
• An ultra-thin transparent coating for house interior made of highly insulating material, which provides a low disruption product for properly insulating older properties.
• A 3D fax able to print a variety of material types using different categories of household waste as input material. If you need a spare part for the vacuum cleaner, the manufacturer could just fax one over!

Just for fun...

• A cube made out of self-replicating carbon-based nanobots