Art, Design & Madness
the creative branch of MAD
Art, Design & Madness (ADM) fuses science, art, and design—under one roof at a time, exploring pathways to thriving futures. After a decade spent in extreme environments, labs, protests, boards, and makeshift studios, we brought together some of the people and ideas thats inspired us—to share them with you.
ADM is part exhibition, part experiment, part home. It draws from street hacks, deep tech, grandma’s wisdom, and wild nature. Featuring local and international voices side by side - bringing friends together from London to New York, Stockholm to Barcelona and beyond. A safe space to explore big leaps and tangible steps.
the Designs, Materials, Projects
& the People & Partners behind >>
meet the creators, explore the designs
materials that matter
and methods that shapes them
bioplastics
ABOUT: Algae and biowaste can be used to create bioplastics—flexible, moldable materials that biodegrade naturally. These plastics are often made with just a few ingredients: algae-based starch or gelatin, water, and natural glycerin. They can replace oil-based plastics in packaging, disposable goods, and even experimental textiles. Because they break down quickly and are made from renewable sources, they offer a cleaner, gentler footprint. Bioplastics like these are part of a growing shift from fossil-based to food-based materials—designing with nature, not against it.
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APPLIED: in the kitchen, livingroom and bedrooms
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bacteria
biocomposite
ABOUT: Certain bacteria can “grow” materials by producing cellulose, binding fibers, or even forming biofilms that harden into usable shapes. When combined with natural elements like plant fibers or food waste, they become biocomposites—fully biodegradable and often grown with zero waste. Designers and researchers use bacterial cultures to create leather-like textiles, packaging, lamps, and tiles. The process is low-energy, low-impact, and almost alchemical—turning microbes into material-makers. It’s a living alternative to plastics, and part of a future where we grow, not manufacture, what we use.
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APPLIED: in the livingroom and kitchen
READ MORE: Blunik Studio
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egg oil
tempra
ABOUT: This is paint the old-fashioned way—with a modern twist. Made from egg yolk, linseed oil, water, and natural pigments, egg-oil tempera is completely free from plastic, solvents, and synthetic chemicals. It seeps into surfaces instead of sitting on top, creating a soft matte finish that ages beautifully over time. It’s breathable too, which means it’s especially good for wood, plaster, and older buildings where moisture regulation matters.
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APPLIED: On the restored livingroom, bedroom and kitchen walls
READ MORE: OVOLIN
mineral
paint
ABOUT: Mineral paint is made from earth-friendly ingredients like chalk, water glass (a liquid mineral), and natural pigments. It contains no plastics, no harmful fumes, and no synthetic additives—just clean, breathable color. What makes it stand out is how it works: instead of just coating a surface, it bonds with it chemically. That means it doesn’t peel or fade over time—it can last for decades. It also helps your walls breathe, which is great for reducing moisture and keeping indoor air healthy. Plus, it’s certified safe and sustainable from start to finish, including Cradle to Cradle and Natureplus certifications.
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APPLIED: On the back stone wall in the kitchen
READ MORE: KEIM
ABOUT: Clay-lime plaster is as natural as it gets—just clay, lime, and sand. It’s free from synthetic binders or toxins, and brings a calm, organic feel to any space. Because it’s breathable, it helps regulate humidity and prevent mold, creating a healthier indoor environment. It’s also incredibly versatile—you’ll find it on walls, floors, even furniture. Inspired by ancient techniques like Moroccan tadelakt, today’s versions are tough, long-lasting, and can be repaired easily—so they age gracefully instead of needing to be replaced.
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APPLIED: Kitchen counter top
READ MORE: Creative Coatings
clay lime
plaster
valchromat
ABOUT: Valchromat is a smarter take on MDF. It’s made from recycled wood fibers and dyed all the way through, so the color is part of the material—not just painted on top. This makes it tougher and more water-resistant than regular MDF, which means it lasts longer and holds up well in kitchens, furniture, and busy spaces. Because the color runs through the board, it needs fewer chemical finishes—cutting down on waste and exposure. And it’s made using wood from responsibly managed forests with a production process that reduces emissions.
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APPLIED: kitchen fronts
READ MORE: Investwood
ABOUT:
HEMP IN BIOCOMPOSITES: Hemp fibers mixed with natural resins or bioplastics create biocomposites—lightweight, durable materials used in lamps, bowls, and even car parts. These plant-based alternatives to plastic are tough, tactile, often biodegradable, and valued for their raw look and low footprint.
HEMP IN FABRIC:Hemp grows fast, uses little water, and needs no pesticides. It requires less land than cotton and yields more fiber with far less impact. The fabric is strong, breathable, mold- and UV-resistant. It softens with time, lasts for years, and breaks down naturally.
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APPLIED: Biocomposite bowls, lamps and Hemp cusions
READ MORE: Blunik Studio
hemp
textiles
ABOUT:
BACTERIAL LEATHER uses microbes, eg. by fermenting kombucha cultures. Bacterial leather is a plant-free, animal-free alternative that grows in sheets of cellulose. Flexible, breathable, and fully biodegradable, it’s a glimpse into a future where we grow materials.
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JUTE is a tough, fast-growing plant fiber that needs little water or chemicals. It improves soil health and is fully biodegradable.
LINNEN comes from flax, a hardy crop that grows with minimal water and no synthetic inputs. The fabric is strong, breathable, naturally antibacterial.
BAMBOO SILK is made by breaking down bamboo into soft, shiny fibers. When processed sustainably, it’s low-impact and biodegradable. Bamboo grows fast, regenerates quickly, and needs no pesticides.
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ORGANIC COTTON skips the synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, using less water and healthier soil methods. It’s soft, durable, and one of the most accessible sustainable fabrics available today.
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APPLIED: living room (cushions), bedroom (bedlinnen), studio (prototypes)
READ MORE: Blunkin Studio (e.g. bacterial leather), and AB Småland (organic cotton)
ABOUT:
Mycelium is the root network of fungi, grown on agricultural waste like sawdust or corn husks. In just a few days, it forms dense, durable structures—no heat, chemicals, or synthetic binders needed.
It can be shaped into packaging, acoustic panels, furniture, and even leather-like sheets. It’s naturally fire-resistant, insulating, compostable, and requires far less energy to produce than foam, plastic, or leather. Numorous companies are already scaling it as a real alternative to petroleum-based materials.
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APPLIED: Studio
mycelium
cheramics
ABOUT:
TILES FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTE Some designers are transforming toxic byproducts—like metal dust or slag—into beautiful, safe ceramic tiles. Using industrial waste as raw pigment reduces environmental harm while revealing the hidden colors of pollution. These tiles don’t just cover surfaces—they tell the story of waste turned valuable. APPLIED: Kitchen wall
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RECYCLED CHERAMIC TILES Crushed and reprocessed ceramic waste—from broken tiles, sinks, and sanitary ware—can be turned into entirely new tiles. This approach saves raw materials and energy, and keeps waste out of landfills. Recycled ceramics offer the same durability and performance, with the benefit of circular production. APPLIED: Bathroom walls
REUSED HISTORIC TILES Old tiles rescued from construction sites, renovations, or demolished buildings are being cleaned, catalogued, and reused. These pieces often carry historical craftsmanship and unique patina that modern tiles can’t replicate.
Reusing tiles preserves materials, reduces emissions, and adds character—each piece with its own past. APPLIED: KITCHEN FLOOR, BATHROOM FLOOR
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READ MORE: Ignorance is Bliss
ABOUT:
PRINTING WITH RECYCLED FILAMENT
Leftover plastic from failed prints,
industrial scraps in glasfibre, or even
ocean waste can be shredded and turned into
new 3D printing filament. This closed-loop
approach reduces virgin plastic use and
gives waste a second life.
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PRINTING WITH WOOD WASTE
Sawdust and agricultural byproducts can be turned into printable, wood-based mass. These blends are biodegradable yet solid and perfect for objects like lamps, furniture, or even house structures.
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PRINTING IN CORN, ALGEA & MYCELIUM
Filaments made from corn starch (PLA), algae, or even mycelium blends are enabling prints that return safely to the earth. These bioplastics can be used for disposable goods, packaging, or even speculative design with a short life cycle.
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SMART PRINTING & BIOMIMICRY
3D printing allows precise, material-efficient structures—especially when inspired by nature. Using biomimicry, we can print only where strength is needed—like branching forms, shells, or bone-like lattices.
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APPLIED: Studio
READ MORE: Wohn, Willowprint, Wasp
3D prints; waste based to biomimicry
radically
reused
ABOUT:
REUSED, RECYCLED, UPCYCLED, REPURPOSED, REFURBISHED
Across the project we've sought to reduce negative impact by reducing the amount of virgin materials bought; A journey from street rescue pieces to vintage chandeliers. Some pieces also combines beneath methods; like bowls reusing and recycling food waste into an upcycled design statement.
REUSED: Using something again for the same or a different purpose without major alteration. Example: Most storage in the Studio is using old wooden and plastic boxes thats been gifted from nearby resturants and stores that otherwise would be thrown away. The bathroom sinc is a recovered fountain piece from a mansion outside of Barcelona.
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RECYCLED: Breaking down waste materials and converting them into raw materials to make new products. Example: The Studio has prototypes of both recycled plastics and fabrics, that can be used to e.g. create furniture, speculative design or art with.
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UPCYCLED: Reusing materials in a way that gives them a higher value than the original. Example: The century old street rescue door (one in a pair, covered in graffiti); used as sofa bench and studio desk. The papermass made of cardboard coating repaired rescue chairs is another example.
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REPURPOSED: Using something for a new function/changing its use. Example: Using cut-off pieces from kitchen fronts into the sofa construction. Pieces of old skatebord ramps and broken travertin tables as cutting boards and plates. Recycled textile fibres and bioplasts colored in food waste creates speculative designs in the Studio. ​
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RESTORED: Repairing and cleaning a used product to restore it to good working condition. Example: The furniture in the apartment are nearly exclusively restored street rescue pieces or second hand/vintage designs that we've repaired and restored. From chairs to chandeliers. There is also a massive work thats gone into refurbishing and restoring original parts of the apartment, like the +500 kg heavy marble sink in the kitchen, the old balcony doors, and floor tiles hidden under layers of sand and soil.
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reused,
recycled,
upcycled,
repurposed,
restored
rooms & spaces
mineral paint
kitchen
walls in mineral paint and egg oil tempra, clay lime counter top, fronts in organic dyed wood fibre, bowls in biological materials, and tiles colored by industrial waste
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egg oil tempra walls
repaired street rescue chairs
livingroom
walls in egg oil tempra, textiles from hemp, vegetable silk, jute, linnen, bacterial leather and mycelium. Sofa built with recycled TV benches and cut-offs from kitchen constructions.
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bedrooms
walls in egg oil tempra, textiles from organic cotton, and furniture in sculptured paper mass.
bathroom
tiles made of recycled cheramics and recovered from nearby construction sites. Standard glass shower doors replaced by recycled, water treated cotton. An old terrazz fontain as a tranquil sinc.
Studio
prototypes, samples and experiments side by side
projects
the people and projects
from installing electricity and water to tailor cutting pieces and blending pigments. If you are ever thinking about a building project in Barcelona - this is the people you want on board!
Water, Heat & Power- from the ground up
When the old gas driven water pipes was taken out - starting to reveal glimpses of the underlying century old floors.
Though it’s rarely seen or celebrated in photos, a huge part of the renovation has reshaped how the space runs—quietly but radically. No more water leaks. No more 14 (ho ho Christmas) or 34 degrees (sweaty summers) inside. No more power cuts.
Out went the old gas, rusty pipes, radiators, and energy-hungry heaters. In their place: a new semi-modular water, energy and heating system, fully electric, adaptable to climate conditions and various uses.
The wiring was reviewed and upgraded where needed to support modern, efficient appliances. Most appliances sourced second-hand but never used, salvaging them from going to waste.
Jordi has supported us in early mornings and late nights through the kitchen and bathroom renovations, as well as rethinking the underlying infrastructure. With his help, every drop and whatt now works smarter.
Taking down the old kitchen bit by bit. Keeping all that can be repurposed or restored.
Getting the new pipes and electricity in place
Orchestrating the deliveries and projects. The massive work behind the scenes
Woodpecker
Behind every smooth surface and tight corner, there’s been a mess of sawdust, off-cuts, and after-hours problem-solving. Woodpecker has been at the heart of it all.
They’ve tailor-cut every piece of the kitchen—more parts than we can count—and opened up their studio to help us restore and reshape salvaged wood, mirros and glass into fronts, doors, and final details. Their machines handled what our hands couldn’t: slicing thick boards, precision-fitting odd angles, even cutting street rescue glass pieces to bring light into tight corners.
We borrowed tools, learned tricks, and lugged more panels over cobblestones than we care to remember. Their incredible generosity—the gear, the scrap pieces, the time and sharing of experience —helped us turn rough material and puzzle pieces into tailored craftsmanship, vibrant shapes and spaces.
Wood, Tools & Craftmanship
Cutting the old wardrobe doors to become solid double doors into the bathroom
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The storage of beautiful cut-off pieces that more often than not became the pussle pieceas that saved and brought our projects full circle.
Layers, Pigments,
Patience & Restoration
the local pinturas and ferraterias - the paints and building stores of the neighbourhood - helping us test and bring back pigments and restorational materials.
This wasn’t just painting walls—it was peeling them back. Layer by layer, square centimeter by square centimeter. Every surfaced touched ten, twenty times. Not to erase the past, but to be in dialogue with it - bringing it back today.
Original pigments reappeared beneath decades of layers —guiding us toward colors that belonged to the space. Windows, doors, beams and vaults restored - not replaced. Tiles scrubbed and waxed until the stories of those who've walked the rooms before us shone through.
A consious work of removing only what was broken or blocking the space from breathing. This is restoration, not renovation. A patient rebuilding rooted in the tools, textures, and techniques from the neighborhood, and those who walked these streets before us.
restoring the old walls, crack by crack.
carefully peeling damaged layers back
restoring damaged structures after removing layers covering the original floors
testing, blending, applying to find the right nuances
​Rescued & Reimagined—Stories in Every Piece
Taking the opportunity to speak to reconstruction sites nearby. Capturing discarded pieces and learning from their practices.
Some materials come with a past you can feel.
Historic tiles, sincs, wooden frames, pieces of stone and marble - rescued from demolition sites have been carefully cleaned, sorted, and returned to use. Each one carrying the marks of time, wear, and craft no factory can replicate. Placing them back into their new home, is like assembling a quiet archive, decoding and writing a new chapter with old stories intertwined. Honoring the past while building something new.
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The story grows richer with the rescue pieces from the streets—discarded objects given a second life through experimentation. A broken door becomes a table. A bent metal bar becomes a drying rack for bioplastics. Chairs are repaired and reimagined. Frames are filled with new work. Some pieces stay. Others, in better condition than when found, are gifted back to neighbors.
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This is reuse, rebirth, as dialogue—testing, listening, responding. Watching how the old and new interact. Peeling back what doesn’t belong to reveal what does. And then dressing the space not just to look good—but to reflect what it’s made of, where it comes from, and where it’s going. Every object, every surface, is part of that evolving conversation.
The team at Oranto - elementos de architectura antigua - that does a tremendous work in recovering and restoring pieces from reconstructions of old buildings. Their expertise and experience has been of tremendous value.
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Removing the tiles that had been placed over the original foundation by hand, to carefully carve out the base and be able to save any pieces remaining, let the foundation breath and lay a solid base to place the new recovered tiles on
Applying the recovered tiles, one by one. Recreating their old patterns.
>> Restored tiles
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Testing how alternative restored tiles harmonixes with the old tiles we've recovered and brought back on site. Seing how the they together creates a new, rich base
The rooms being restored from the bottom up, one by one. Letting the underlying layers breath and then building them back stronger. Here, the floor tiles are starting to come on as the wall layers are drying.
Testing which layers should surround the tiles, meanwhile restoring damaged surfaces of the beams.
Installing the old terrazzo fontain as a small sinc in the bathroom.
>> from Street rescue pieces to Vintage stores, the local Ferrateria, antirasist pop-up Markets, or just an overlooked part of the Studio
(aka where we find out pieces)
Adjusting the old wardrobe doors to become double doors for the bathroom. The daily walks back and forth to the carpenteria
The continous process of recovering pieces from the streets - testing, prototyping how they and the studio can be in a reimaginatory dialogue that brings us forward step by step.
Orantos incredible storage and store of recovered vintage and antique architectural pieces.
Glimpses of Orantos remarkable collection of restored tiles.
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Black and White - a phenomenal anti-rasist movemement and organisation that amongst other things hosts pop-up second hand markets, where anything from the studios chandelier, to books and much of its cutlery and cheramics is from.
Aubert - the local family and friends run ferrateria - neighbourhood building stoor, thats saved us with expertise and supplies to pull any challenge off.
>> Restored tiles
Constructing the sofa bit by bit - prototyping the pieces together. Adding cut-offs from other projects where needed to enable the full shape to take place.
Drilling the base structure in place to ensure a solid foundation and frame
Starting to integrate the sofa into the wall with the same materials as we restored the walls with.
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Exploring the fantastic tiles by Ignorance is Bliss, discovering each tiles unique expression and how they can come together.
As appliances and the underlying structures of the kitchen is coming into place, we start working on the counter top. Building it out with Clay Lime plaster.
Every front and piece tailor cut multiple times to fit into each niche and nook. Using cut of pieces to adjust the frames, enabling the last milimeter precision.
As the coating of each front is drying, before moving on the next, we start turning package cardboard left-overs to paper mass. Exploring how street rescue chairs can be given a surronding strengthening layer.
Watching the layers dry in its new home
A close up on the fibres and structures
working on rescue glass and mirros pieces, to give them a second chanse
partners & friends
