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Jessie French is an artist and experimental designer based in naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Housed within an ethos of consumption, sustainability and regeneration, her practice invites engagement with the possibilities of a post-petrochemical world. Through experimenting with materials, she explores the potential of closed-loop systems, (re)use, conscious consumption and interaction with objects. In 2020, French founded OTHER MATTER, an experimental design studio working with algae-based bioplastics which tangibly explores application of new materials she develops though objects, experiences and futures. Contact via email or instagram @frenchjessie.

EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITIES OF BIOPLASTIC AND OTHER MATTER. 








The Myth of Nature – agaG1 [installation], 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus, The Cutaway, Barangaroo, 12 March – 13 June 2022. Photos by Jessica Maurer.
23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus 'The Blinding Obligation That is Our Vulnerability - β-L-galactopyranose'

A Matter of Matter – agaG1, 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus, Artspace at National Art School, 12 March – 13 June 2022. Photos by Jessica Maurer.



Growthcentrism – C15H18NO8, 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus , Artspace at National Art School, 12 March – 13 June 2022. Photos by Jessica Maurer.

The Blinding Obligation That is Our Vulnerability - β-L-galactopyranose, 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus, Artspace at National Art School, 12 March – 13 June 2022. Photos by Heilam Choi and Jessica Maurer.



Response-ability is not a calculation to be performed – GH16, 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus, The Cutaway, Barangaroo, 12 March – 13 June 2022. Photos by Jessica Maurer.

Custom comission - Campari Galleria at 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus, The Cutaway, Barangaroo, 12 March – 13 June 2022. Photos by Jessica Maurer.



Algae Bioplastic Tableware [series], 2020-2021, winner of the Jardan Prize, Victorian Craft Awards 2022. Photos by Pier Carthew.

Alternative Provisions, Craft Victoria, February 10 – March 26 2022. Photos by Henry Trumble.



It’s Getting Hot in Here - 2022, Melbourne Design Fair, Craft Victoria, March 16 – 20 2022. Photos by Henry Trumble.

Dark Matter - 2022, Melbourne Design Fair, Craft Victoria, March 16 – 20 2022. Photos by Henry Trumble.


Algae Bioplastic Tableware [series], 2021. In-studio photos by Pier Carthew.
Algae Bioplastic Tableware [series], 2021. Photos by Pier Carthew, art direction by Thalea Economo.



A Sea at the Table [installation], Melbourne Design Week - 26 March — 6 April 2021. Photos by Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Algae Bioplastic Tableware [series] – 2020.




Seaweed Future: Red Gold, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair [offsite exhibitiion, Marrakech]


Research - Algal polymer supply chain sustainability, Morocco - January — February 2020



While we uncovered fossils from the past, our time on Earth may be marked, overwhelmingly, by Bic™ pen casings and other so-called disposable items.


French’s work explores the meaning and value of the ephemeral; placing value in things that don’t last beyond our lifetimes and challenging our obsession with the idea of ‘built-to-last’, which largely fails to consider the ecological and social impacts of this everlasting durability. Why is it that objects which leave a geological mark lasting an epoch are so readily available, with prices not accounting for their enduring environmental burden?

Through her work – both material research and production – French engages with and confronts our contemporary environmental crisis. She proposes everyday solutions within the frame of human production and consumption.

The polymers French uses come from new algae, a renewable resource that has the potential to rehabilitate oceans and the atmosphere through its sustainable production and harvest, rather than ancient algae – a finite, mined resource that petroleum is made from.




I acknowledge the Wurundjeri People as the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work, whose cultures are among the oldest living cultures in human history and who have one of the longest creative human histories on Earth. I pay respect to Elders of the community - past, present and emerging - and extend this respect to all First Nations people. Sovereignty was never ceded. My country has a rich history and its Indigenous peoples have unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters, seas and all living things in them.


Copyright Jessie French 2022