Award-Winning San Francisco State University Sustainable Materials Library by SFSU Design to Launch This Summer

Innovative Materials Sourced From Around the World Will Shape the Future of Sustainable Design — First West Coast Library Exclusively For Sustainable Materials

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, May 29, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Stay tuned for the grand opening of the San Francisco State University Sustainable Materials Library—an inspiring new creative resource built by the students, faculty, and staff at SFSU’s School of Design. Two years in the making, this resource is a globally-sourced collection of ingenious, environmentally responsible raw materials created by innovative companies around the world aiming to shape the future of design, architecture, and creative production. The SFSU Sustainable Materials Library will be permanently located at SFSU's Marcus Humanities Building 130.

This invaluable resource serves as an inspiration for designers, architects, engineers, artists, creators, and anyone looking to explore materials that prioritize sustainability without compromising functionality.

Each material in the collection—from ingenious plastic alternatives, wood made from recycled newspapers, leather made from mushrooms, glitter made from fish scales—tells a story of renewal, regeneration, and re-imagination. From biodegradable alternatives to upcycled innovations, the library showcases a diverse range of materials resourced by groundbreaking manufacturers from all over the world that minimize environmental impact while maximizing creative potential. Visitors are invited to interact, learn, and rethink their relationship with the materials that shape our world.

Whether you’re looking for practical solutions or visionary concepts, the SFSU Sustainable Materials Library offers a glimpse into a future where sustainability and design go hand in hand.

Begun in 2023, students from the San Francisco State University School of Design, in collaboration with Professor JD Beltran, SFSU Design Director Mari Hulick, and SFSU staff Richard Ortiz and Justin Wong, established the first college-based materials library on the West Coast dedicated exclusively to sustainable and recycled materials. This pioneering brick and mortar resource is located in the Marcus Humanities Building 130 on the SFSU campus, and features a constantly evolving online database, as well. It offers designers, architects, artists, and other creative professionals access to a curated collection of cutting-edge materials that support sustainable creative practices. Meticulously sourced physical samples of the actual materials—each approximately 5” x 5” in dimension—have been collected by SFSU students from around the globe. The materials tiles also feature a QR code to access more information about that material, where to source it, and the master sustainable materials database.

Open to the SFSU community and the general public, the library also serves as an educational platform, showcasing advancements in sustainable materials that drive progress toward a circular economy and climate action.

Over the past two years, the founding SFSU students not only developed the permanent library, they also produced ingenious, captivating exhibitions each semester highlighting the new sustainable materials sourced and added to the library. This spring’s “Lost in the Fog” exhibition featured a “tree” display for the tiles made with sustainable recycled wood, interactive lighting that illuminated the tiles as you approached their wall display, and a live virtual interactive “pond” that responded to people walking into it—the "water" rippling around exhibition visitors' ankles and tiny "fish" trying to escape.

SFSU staff Richard Ortiz and Justin Wong served as critical co-founders of the library, securing a permanent location in Marcus Humanities Building 130, as well as assisting the students in designing, building, and installing the library elements and the related exhibitions.

Due to their remarkable achievements in sustainable design, the San Francisco State University (SFSU) School of Design was honored this year, the third year in a row, with an invitation to SFSU Design Professors Fernando Carvalho and Professor Beltran to showcase their students' accomplishments at the 2025 International Biodesign Challenge Summit in New York City. SFSU Design student teams previously traveled to New York in 2023 and 2024 to present their sustainable design projects at the Museum of Modern Art and The New School’s Parsons School of Design Biodesign Summit Showcase. Last summer, this groundbreaking sustainable materials library resource and Professor Carvalho's other SFSU sustainable design projects also were invited to be featured at San Francisco's Design Week.

School of Design Director Mari Hulick commented, “The SFSU community has needed a materials library for some time—especially of sustainable materials! Our ingenious students have now delivered a valuable SFSU and public resource for years to come. We know this sets a standard for other materials libraries throughout higher education.”

Professor JD Beltran also shared, ”I’m thrilled by the ingenuity, creativity, and dedication of the SFSU student designers these past two years in resourcing brilliant new assets for creativity. They've researched, discovered, resourced, and secured sustainable materials samples from as far as New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and The Netherlands! These assets will now live in the SFSU Sustainable Materials Learning Library, establishing a resource that will prompt creators to rethink their relationship with the materials that shape our world. “

Professor Beltran has a distinguished history of initiating sustainability projects that tackle the causes and impacts of climate change. "Do1Act.org", is an educational platform she built to spread knowledge about sustainable consumer behavior and ignite collective action for climate change reversal. She also founded the Center for Creative Sustainability, a consultancy dedicated to advancing sustainability initiatives through community-driven projects and public and private partnerships. With this latest project, the SFSU Sustainable Materials Library, she and other SFSU staff and student co-founders aspire to encourage innovative thinking, inspire sustainable design, and foster a circular economy to safeguard the planet for future generations.

This groundbreaking library has been made possible by San Francisco State University School of Design and a generous grant from SFSU's Climate HQ.

SFSU SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS LEARNING LIBRARY FOUNDERS
Director of Design Mari Hulick
Professor JD Beltran
SFSU Staff Richard Ortiz
SFSU Staff Justin Wong

SFSU Student Founders [Spring 2025]
Ansley Bergado
Kai Bergeman
Desiree Brown
Liliana Ceja
Vivack Chan
Angela Chew
Oliver Galvan
Melody Kuo
Mary Ann Lei Macabenta
Gerald Mayupao
Nayeli Nieto Vazquez
Adrian Nunez Menera
Christopher Phan
Nate Romero
Alexander Romo
Isabelle Sanchez
Jacob Sutton
Joseph Thompson
Stepan Valyeyev
Payton White


SFSU Sustainable Materials Library Sponsors
SFSU School of Design
SFSU Climate HQ

JD Beltran
Center for Creative Sustainability
+1 415-786-6906
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