Events
Design Shanghai at Materials Matter 2025 - London Design Festival
Chris Lefteri is curating Design Shanghai’s exhibition at Material Matters during the London Design Festival 2025.
The showcase will feature 12 pioneering material innovations, bringing leading Chinese brands onto the global stage and highlighting the fusion of advanced materials with traditional craftsmanship.
Specially commissioned for Material Matters, the exhibition draws from Design Shanghai’s exhibitors, presenting a curated vision of how China’s material innovation is shaping the future of design.
K Show Tour 2025
Chris Lefteri takes designers on a curated tour of K Show 2025
A 1.5-hour guided tour led by Chris Lefteri, focusing on a selection of new materials and technologies in plastics and rubber, chosen for their relevance to design. The tour is intended for designers seeking a focused overview of key innovations at the show, with commentary on applications, sustainability, and material trends.
Future Materials Conference MOME
Shifting Mindsets: Building Ethical Circularity Together
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest
Chris Lefteri will join this year’s conference as a Keynote Speakers with a talk on how CMF design can drive ethical approaches to circularity. The event brings together industry and academia, moving beyond trends in renewable and recyclable materials to examine circular design from a holistic, systems-level, and more-than-human perspective.
MATERIALS LABORATORY
Chris Lefteri, leading expert in CMF and materials, returns to Design Mumbai 2025 as a key voice in material innovation. Invited for the second year, he will share insights on how color, material and finish shape the future of design, inspiring professionals and brands with sustainable, forward-thinking strategies.
Materials Stories @Design Shanghai
At Design Shanghai 2025, materials are the new heroes—telling powerful stories through texture, origin, and transformation. From bio-based innovation to futuristic finishes, our curated themes invite you to touch, explore, and imagine. This year, don’t miss:
Exhibition: Materials Stories– an immersive showcase of material narratives across sustainability, technology, and sensory design.
Up Close and Personal with Chris Tour – an exclusive guided walkthrough of material and trend highlights.
CMF Training Workshop: June 6, 13:00–17:30 (TBC)
CMF Trends Breakfast Talk with Chris Lefteri at Workbench Ltd
Chris Lefteri will be speaking at an exclusive breakfast event hosted by Workbench Ltd during Clerkenwell Design Week, exploring how CMF trends move, shift, and shape the design process.
He’ll share why trends should influence your thinking from the start—beginning with materials, not ending with them.
Whether you’re a designer, manufacturer, or passionate about innovation and sustainability, this talk is for you.
Limited spaces available
CMF Trend Lab 2025
At CIFF – China International Furniture Fair, CMF LAB brings together designers and material suppliers for an in-depth exploration of cutting-edge CMF (Color, Material, Finish) trends. With a focus on both expert insights and forward-thinking innovation, this year’s showcase highlights how materials shape the future of sustainable design.
Co-curated by Chris Lefteri, along with Chief Curator Jamy Yang from Yang Design, and Xiaojing Huang and Markus Frentrop from RAL Colours, the exhibition presents SYMBIOSIS – a curated selection of game-changing products that define a new era of design where materials, technology, and sustainability converge.