LET ME GUIDE YOU
Material Guidance recognises that clients have specific or diverse needs:
immediate support to solve a stakeholder demand,
specialist input in preparation for a forthcoming project,
an accessible resource during a specific time frame
Material Guidance offers flexible solutions, tailored to suit your individual and actual requirements
Fees are set in accordance with the assignment’s criteria and duration.
Contact Material Guidance to schedule an initial meeting, where we together, identify and plan which support you require
Material Guidance offers the following services
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT
every decision has an impact
In the creation of new or the further improvement of existing materials, a Material Vision clearly specifies the aesthetics, haptics, characteristics, cost and functions requested by the product development team. Together a material vision, a technical specification and a material strategy provide detailed information for the material supplier to refer to throughout the development.
A material strategy informs stakeholders why and how the impacts and risks in the development and manufacturing of new materials shall be identified and assessed. This strategy states why there is a need to reduce the consumption of water, chemicals and waste and how to investigate where consumption of energy and water occurs.
Material Guidance provides support in the formation of material visions and material strategies. If required, Material Guidance can communicate on your behalf, with your supply chains to inform the reasons why the organisation has specified these requirements.
Material Guidance recommends streamlined Life Cycle Assessments as standard practice in new product developments. Material Guidance can conduct streamlined LCAs for specific products on your behalf. In parallel, your employees can be educated in LCA software with our partners. Together we will support your company in selecting which data is most relevant and how to navigate around the LCA program software. Material Guidance has partnerships with several leading LCA platform providers. Let us guide you.
MATERIAL TRANSITION
the search for alternatives
The ingredients and processes used in the manufacturing of natural and synthetic materials have a negative impact on people and the environment. Elements, minerals, carbon and polymers are transformed into materials, via processes that require vast amounts of energy. Our focus must shift to producing materials with less energy.
Pliable and solid plastics, wool, metals, non-wovens, cellulose, glass, leather, wood, paper, ceramics, cotton, coatings, mycelium, shells, hemp, composites, cork, regenerated materials…the list is endless. Material Guidance provides advice and knowledge in all types of material – their characteristics, their suitability in applications and products, their durability and the impacts and risks of manufacturing these materials. Soon we can manufacture with materials from circular material sources – and these materials are not produced from the recycling of PET bottles.
During spring 2025, Material Guidance will launch a material directory featuring insights into materials that may fulfil your product requirements. Materials manufactured with consideration with the aim to reduce negative impacts on the environment and on the individuals who produce and use them. The directory will even provide contact information of qualified tradesmen, who have expertise in repairing products that are no longer in use due to a fault, worn component or damage. Material Guidance is excited to also inform about companies who manufacture product packaging with better materials and techniques.
Are you a material manufacturer interested in promoting your material innovation in the Material Guidance directory? Are you a qualified tradesman who would like to advertise your services? Reach out and contact Material Guidance for further information.
COMMUNICATING SUSTAINABILITY
transparent, relevant & comparable
It is often not the intention to mislead consumers by using “eco-” or “green” to describe products or services. Environmental claims can be made in the form of a visual claim (image or colour) a logo, a label, product text, brand or product name. To comply with forthcoming directives for selling goods within the EU, third-party certification will be required to verify all environmental claims.
Material Guidance can review visual claims and texts in your current marketing and sales communication (product descriptions, websites and e-commerce) and propose alternatives. We offer guidance in how to prepare documentation in for the certification of materials audits and chains of custody.
Digital Product Passports inform primary data about a product’s composition – components, materials and respective supply chains and specific information about safety and compliance. Primary material data can be complex to source as information may not be available or is regarded as confidential. All products, sold within the EU, shall carry a permanent DPP identifier, to allow consumers as well as tradesmen within repair and material recycling, to access detailed product information. Note all products that are sold to consumers located within the EU, shall comply with mandatory EU compliance regulations.
Material Guidance offers support in mapping material supply chains (Tier 1 to 4), to trace relevant information. This support extends to connecting your company with partners, who provide DPP data portal solutions and other software solutions, in order to document primary and secondary information in component and product databases.
IDENTIFYING INFLUENCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
awareness of impacts
Materiality assessment is a method to identify which Environmental, Social and Goverance topics are the most significant and relevant to an organisation and its stakeholders. Topics can contribute to positive or negative impacts; highlighting opportunities for business growth whilst other topics emphasize risks to both the stakeholder’s and company’s continuous development.
The Materiality assessment process provides stakeholders with essential information:
- which of the company’s business activities can affect local and global environments and communities, in the short term and long term.
- which external factors can directly and indirectly influence the company’s business activities, both in the short term and long term.
The Materiality assessment is not only about risks but also highlights which opportunities that positively influence the company’s growth
The process:
- the company’s value chains are mapped
- internal and external stakeholders are identified
- stakeholder engagement is conducted via interviews and questionaires
- quantitative and qualitative information is analysed
- Is the topic important (material) for the company?
- How severe are the consequences on both the company and its stakeholders?
The results from this exercise forms points on a double materiality diagram that is communicated togther with relevant information to employees and stakeholders.
The Double Materiality diagram pinpoints the focus areas for the company’s sustainability strategies.
Material Guidance can provide support in conducting Materiality Assessments
Materiality assessments may be considered complex but are worthwhile to perform in order to understand how a business shall develop and grow sustainably.
EU REGULATIONS & COMPANY POLICIES
rules and guiding principles
ESPR, LCA, EPD, PFAS, REACH, RoHS, DPP, GSPD, SUPD, PPWD, EUDR, CSDDD
Above are a selection of abbreviated titles of EU regulations and directives that are relevant for your company to be aware of.
Regulations focus on compliance and legal requirements to ensure fairness, safety, and standards across industries and society.
Do you plan to sell your materials and products to markets within the European Union?
Are you aware of which EU regulations are mandatory for your company’s global value chains to understand and comply with?
Material Guidance can support your company in understanding EU regulations, providing relevant information, through digital tutorials and documentation, formed specifically after your needs and the demands set by your current and future customers.
Company policies serve as internal frameworks and are applicable in all premises where an organization or companies operates and are applicable for management and both white and blue collar employees and temporary staff.
Policies are guidelines that shape culture, processes, and decision-making within an organization or company.
Material Guidance has a framework of policy documents, that can be specifically adapted to your organization’s values, principles and goals. The first step in this process is the contact person completes a questionnaire and thereafter an interview is performed with management.
Policy documents should be revised annually.
Environmental policy, Sustainability policy, Product Quality policy
Supplier Code of Conduct, Employee Code of Conduct,
Workplace Health & Safety, Equal Opportunities policy
INSPIRE & MOTIVATE
encouraging your growth
I was given the opportunity to start my profession as a textile designer in 2000; moving to Sweden from the United Kingdom, without knowing any other individual. Determined to settle, I studied the Swedish language at evening classes. For many years I felt that I had lost my personality; it was not easy to find friends outside of the workplace. Today, I am a Swedish citizen, living with my family 100 km inland from Gothenburg communicating professionally in the Swedish language. I am scottish, my swedish will never be perfect but what is most important for me is to try.
Today, many individuals feel alone. It is important within organisations, schools and workplaces, that we realise the value that each person represents and how we complement each other. Digitally, we can communicate over borders, sharing our knowledge, beliefs and encouraging mutual growth.
I believe that my determination, skill-sets and the experiences that I have learnt from living and working in Sweden are of interest to a broad audience, I am open and comfortable to describe the challenges of working with design and product development and why after 20 years as an employee, I took the decision to establish my company and become a female solo entrepreneur. I will share my curiosity, bravery, strength and will to support others.
There are no borders in Material Guidance’s network, I am proud to be part of a global community.
Book my services as a keynote speaker, a participant in panel discussions, for seminars, a podcast, an interview or as a visiting lecturer to your school or college.
