Why raw materials are suddenly central

Without raw materials, everything grinds to a halt. Those with access to lithium and copper not only possess economic and political power, but also influence in conflicts, relationships, and a significant technological advantage. The question is no longer whether raw materials are geopolitical, but how quickly we navigate a world where scarcity and dependency are on the rise.

Materialism
Studio Drift makes this visible with the project Materialism, in which they disassemble everyday objects and present raw materials piece by piece as sculptures. Suddenly, you see a smartphone not as a sleek design object, but as a pile of metals and minerals. The project reveals how intimate our relationship with the planet has become.

SmartPhone Marbles
Behind every screen lie dozens of raw materials. With the SmartPhone Marbles project, each marble represents a single material from a smartphone. This makes it immediately clear how commonplace technology relies on scarce metals and minerals.

Why now?
Because "easy" supplies are running out, while demand is exploding due to electrification, battery storage, and data centers. That's why we're looking in new places: volcanic rocks, salt flats, and even the ocean.

Diamonds for everyone
Meanwhile, the promise of new materials from labs is growing. You see this in the most unexpected places. Take Zeeman, which offers a lab-grown diamond for €29.99. It's a real diamond, but produced in a factory. And with that, "rarity" shifts from geology to industry. Value is created not only by what is scarce, but also by who can and is allowed to organize production.

What does this mean for technology and the future?
When a country restricts the export of a niche metal, you immediately feel the impact: in smartphones, data centers, solar panels, and batteries. Technology, therefore, isn't just about software or AI, but also about provenance, circularity, strategy, and political agreements.

Those who understand this design technology that is not only smart but also robust in a world of scarcity and interdependencies. And see raw materials for what they are: a means of power with which you can slow or accelerate technological advantage.