My design research journey and Award winning final collection: Palms

Jun 20, 2024

I am really grateful and proud to have won the Maison/0 Award. Maison/0 is the Central Saint Martins-LVMH creative platform for regenerative luxury. The award is the the best outcome of 2 years of design research within the MA Design department of Central Saint Martins.

Thank you for still being here and following me after this long silence.

I will be relaunching my activities as a brand and a designer maker after the summer.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me for commission, sale or partnership.

A statement necklace made of recycled silver and palm nut kernelsnd pa — M.kala Palm 1 necklace

The final collection showcased last week during the College's end of year show is called Palms. It is a jewellery collection that introduces, as a valuable medium for precious jewellery, the palm oil kernels - an unseen yet omnipresent element of modern times.

Threats from intensive farming is growing in the Congo Forest, its native place.

The collection blends precious metals with the reclaimed kernels – a local food waste –to elevate it to its true worth.

Directly involved in the project, local wood craftsmen adapted their workshop for this new non-timber material.

I want to specially thank Prudence Letip for his enthusiasm in collaborating to this project.

Each piece of the collection weaves local artisanship with the latest technology: patterns inspired from Kongo textiles are engraved to give the material a texture like the skin of forest’s creatures. T

I am really grateful and proud to have won the Maison/0 Award. Each year, the Maison/0 Green Trail highlights the best nature-positive graduating projects across design disciplines at Central Saint Martins.

I have prepared a short video highlighting some moments of my time in Congo-Brazzaville and at C.S.M workshop.

Also visible here: https://www.mkala.co.uk/post/design-research-journey