Morrama and Carbon Cell collaborate to reframe sustainable design

Morrama, a B-Corp accredited industrial design and innovation consultancy, has collaborated with Carbon Cell to showcase a new approach to sustainable material design, rooted in storytelling. 

The project has been facilitated by the Morrama Lab, an in-house research and development hub leveraging design and storytelling to accelerate sustainable material and manufacturing innovation. The partnership has resulted in the creation of three prototypes using Carbon Cell's proprietary material, derived from biochar, challenging conventional notions of sustainable product design.

The project has focused on reframing how we perceive sustainable materials. Instead of mimicking existing materials like plastic, Morrama and Carbon Cell have chosen to celebrate the material’s properties, including its distinctive black colour and texture.

‘We are often focused on making bio-materials to look and act like existing petrochemical materials, but we don’t need to,’ said Jo Barnard, founder of Morrama. ‘With Carbon Cell, we are being unapologetic about the material’s origin and celebrating its inherent qualities. This approach opens up new possibilities in sustainable product design.’

The project centred on developing prototypes that showcase the Carbon Cell biochar’s versatility and potential applications. Morrama's design team created three product stories – Question, Sequester, and Soil – each highlighting different aspects of the material's capabilities and environmental benefits.

Question: a bold, geometric jewellery box, juxtaposing Carbon Cell alongside its purest counterpart, the diamond. The concept challenges people to reflect on the conventional notions of value, inviting reflection on material worth, beauty and the potential, hidden in what is often discarded.  

Sequester: a buildable lamp, explores forming the material into an everyday object, which has the potential to sequester carbon for hundreds of years. The lamp’s body protects its core components during transit, then transforms into the product’s defining external form with a tapered, stacking geometry.

Soil: a smart alternative to the millions of plastic planters which are discarded every day. With an intentionally simple and scalable form, the geometry echoes the cube motif that defines Carbon Cell’s visual identity. 

Jo Barnard emphasises the importance of storytelling in this process, saying: ‘For these innovations to be widely adopted, they need to go beyond simple comparisons. Our design work shifts the focal point to the advantages and unique properties of this waste derived, bio-based foam, elevating its versatility, robustness, and inherent beauty.’

This collaboration underscores that product design with new, sustainable materials is as much about defining a narrative and finding the right market fit as it is about sustainability itself. By prototyping products that celebrate biochar’s properties, Morrama and Carbon Cell are opening the doors for a more intense exploration of sustainable design where materials, like biochar, are spotlighted for their functional and ecological merits, rather than their ability to replicate conventional counterparts

Elizabeth Lee, CEO at Carbon Cell, commented: ‘Working with the Morrama team and within the Morrama Lab has been a fascinating and illuminating experience. Our mission is to replace plastic foam – the Carbon Cell material is a carbon negative, high performance, versatile and compostable material, which starts life as agricultural waste and captures carbon within. 

‘We have long believed in the potential for this material, but to see how it can be brought into product design to create something useful, beautiful and thought provoking has been a fantastic experience.’